


The Bet

by gabby227



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Allison Argent, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Begging, Bets & Wagers, Blow Jobs, Casual Sex, Cunnilingus, Derek Needs To Use His Words, Derek and Lydia are mates, Dirty Talk, Eventual Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Face-Sitting, From Sex to Love, Light Bondage, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Mates, Minor Aiden/Lydia Martin, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Lydia, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Smut, but very minor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-04 21:32:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3090968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabby227/pseuds/gabby227
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia Martin doesn't do relationships.  She was turned off from them after having several in a row that ended badly, so now she just sleeps around, no feelings involved. </p><p>Derek Hale is a popular jock around campus and he has his eye on Lydia.  He watches her sleep around, and knows that she could be his girl, so he proposes a bet.  He bets her that she can't go six months with sleeping with just one person monogamously without falling in love with them.  </p><p>Lydia thinks she's got this bet in the bag, but can she really only go all that time and not develop any feelings for him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I know I have three WIPs right now, but I've been sitting on this story for months. I actually only started writing it about two months ago and have five chapters written right now. It's more like a story I can't get out of my freaking head so I decided I could start posting it. 
> 
> Things you need to know: the Hale family is alive. Well, most of it. There was a fire, and there were casualties, but it's not like they show on the show, and Talia is the alpha. Therefore Allison, Boyd & Erica are still alive (mostly because I'm living in denial about that whole ordeal.)
> 
> This story is Explicit for a reason. If there was a rating higher than that, I'd use it. It's basically a fuckbuddies to lovers AU so there will be sex. I read a shit ton of smut, but I'm still not very good at writing it (but I'm a lot better than I used to be). There is no update schedule so you'll just have to kinda stick with me here. 
> 
> I still suck at tagging so if I need to add tags, etc., please let me know and I'll change them/add to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know I have three WIPs right now, but I've been sitting on this story for months. I actually only started writing it about two months ago and have five chapters written right now. It's more like a story I can't get out of my freaking head so I decided I could start posting it.
> 
> Things you need to know: the Hale family is alive. Well, most of it. There was a fire, and there were casualties, but it's not like they show on the show, and Talia is the alpha. Therefore Allison, Boyd & Erica are still alive (mostly because I'm living in denial about that whole ordeal.)
> 
> This story is Explicit for a reason. If there was a rating higher than that, I'd use it. It's basically a fuckbuddies to lovers AU so there will be sex. I read a shit ton of smut, but I'm still not very good at writing it (but I'm a lot better than I used to be). There is no update schedule so you'll just have to kinda stick with me here.
> 
> I still suck at tagging so if I need to add tags, etc., please let me know and I'll change them/add to them.

Lydia Martin didn't do relationships.

She hadn't done them since junior year of high school, after she got fucked over by not one, but four different people in a row. She got tired of all the messing around high school boys did, so she decided not to date. She hadn't decided, however, that she wouldn't have sex. After losing her virginity at fifteen, she realized that she really liked sex. She was a really sexual person, and, while she wasn't shameless, she didn't see anything wrong with it. So she slept around.

It wasn't long before people around town (but yet, her parents had been painfully oblivious to the fact) knew that Lydia Martin was the one to go to for a good fuck. Even though she had rules, like her own little guidelines, she was an experienced fuck and everybody knew it.

By the time she got to college, she figured out that college guys weren't really any better than high school ones. She had decided to go to UC Berkeley, that way she wasn't too far away from her mom. After her dad's death, her mom had almost shut down, and Lydia wanted to keep an eye on her. It turned out that the rest of the pack had decided to attend as well, so she felt almost happy about it. Over the last six years, they had not only become her friends; they were her family. None were more family, however, than Stiles and Cora. When Lydia and Stiles had really gotten to know one another and Stiles decided that he wasn't in love with her after all, he and Cora had hooked up and they complimented each other pretty damn well. Now Stiles was more like her brother, and she and Cora had gotten just as close. She spent a lot of time around the Hales, since their mother was the alpha, after all, and as much as Lydia loved Cora and her older sister, Laura, the one person she could not stand was their brother Derek.

Derek was just...he was everything that Lydia hated. He was cocky, egotistical, and worse of all, he was hot and he knew it. Yes, Derek was fucking hot. Every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him - or, at least, be friends with him. When you were friends with Derek Hale, you had it made. He was practically a god around campus. And, even though it seemed like every girl on campus was fleeing towards him, Lydia was practically running away.

As far as Lydia Martin was concerned, Derek Hale could just go jump off a cliff.

-x-

“Oh, fuck, Lydia, that’s so good,” Aiden moaned as his cock hit the back of her throat. Any guy who had ever slept with Lydia knew that her favorite part of sex was giving blowjobs. She liked the control. She loved the way that, even though she was the one on her knees, she controlled their orgasms. She was the one who decided when they could come, or even if they could. She liked edging guys and keeping them on the edge for what seemed like forever, because the orgasms were so much better afterwards. Anybody with a dick on campus was always flocking to see if they could get sucked off by her.

Lydia relaxed her throat as his cock slipped into her throat. Aiden grabbed her hair and started to thrust into her mouth.

She had gotten rid of her gag reflex really quickly. When she started having sex and realized how much she liked sucking cock, she practiced so she could deep throat with ease. The guys never complained. And she liked giving head so much more when they were rough with her. She loved it when they pulled her hair, when they fucked her mouth, and when it came to sex, the rougher was the better, as far as she was concerned.

As Aiden fucked into her mouth, Lydia hummed around him. He stopped thrusting and said, “Shit, I’m gonna come, Lydia.”

Lydia pulled off, grinning to herself. She went back to sucking, fondling his balls with her hand. She knew that it wouldn’t take much, so as soon as she took a long, hard suck, he just fell apart. He came into her mouth, and, since Lydia was an experienced cocksucker, she swallowed it all. A little dribbled out of the corner of her mouth, and she wiped it away with her hand, before licking her thumb.

“Fuck, Lydia, you’re so fucking good at that,” Aiden said, leaning back against the couch as Lydia wrapped a hand around him. Most of the people she fucked were werewolves, and for one main reason: she loved their stamina. Werewolves had practically no recovery time at all, which meant they could go all night if she wanted. Yeah, so she liked sex, but she wasn’t a slut, alright? She had standards.

She started stroking his length, trying to get him hard again. And, like she already knew, it took practically no time at all. She grabbed a condom out of her purse, rolling it onto him. She pulled her panties to the side and sunk down on him in one quick motion. Aiden moaned, feeling the tight, wet heat on his cock, and Lydia sat there for a moment, giving herself time to adjust.

As she started gliding up and down on him, she buried her head in his neck, leaving kisses and nips on his collarbone. The only thing she hated about werewolves, if she was honest, was the fact that they healed so fast. So maybe it was a turn-on that she could see her marks on people, but with werewolves, she didn’t get that luxury.

Aiden grabbed her hips roughly with his hands and started thrusting up into her. His fingers were digging into her hips so hard that she could practically feel the bruises starting to blossom. That just made her even more enthusiastic, and she set a quick pace. She needed to come, and she needed to come now. Reaching down, she rubbed quick circles into her clit, and it wasn’t long before she was screaming her release into Aiden’s neck and shoulder, coming around him. The increased tightness made him swear and explode into the condom.

She sat there, with him still inside of her, for a few minutes, trying to get her breathing under control. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She groaned, leaning her head against his shoulder as she came down from her high. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she regained control of her legs (even though they felt like jelly) and climbed off of him. Aiden disposed of the condom and Lydia stood, straightening her clothes and dusting the wrinkles out of them.

“Shit, Lyds, that was amazing,” Aiden said, lighting a joint. Lydia didn’t understand why, as a werewolf, Aiden couldn’t eat a microwave burrito, but could smoke. He had told her that processed foods tasted like chemicals to him, but what about all the chemicals from the drugs? Lydia smiled subtly as the thought came to her.

“What’re you doing tonight?” Aiden asked, taking a hit.

“Cora’s giving that party tonight. She’d asked if I would be there.”

“The only reason she and Stilinski want you there is because everyone knows your party is a failure unless Lydia Martin shows up. Seriously, Lydia, people follow you around like you’re the fucking messiah or something.”

Lydia snorted.

“Are you going to be there?” she asked.

“Of course. It may be Cora’s party, but everybody knows that Derek’s friends are always there. Everybody knows that Hale parties are legendary.”

“People don’t like Cora,” Lydia said, sitting down on the couch beside Aiden. He offered her the joint and she took a long drag from it. She didn’t smoke often, and barely ever got high, but she did like the feeling of the drugs in her system. Handing it back to him, she exhaled and then said, “Derek’s popular in a way that nobody else is. You know that. But I like Cora and Stiles.”

“You shouldn’t. Stilinski’s in love with you, and has been forever.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, “Jesus, Aiden, I told you already. That was forever ago. He is one of my best friends now. Besides, you and me? We’re never going to happen. I’m okay with us fucking, but I don’t do relationships.”

“You should. I’d treat you so good.” He was quiet for a moment before adding, “It’s funny, we’ve been fucking for almost a year and a half and you’ve yet to kiss me on the mouth.”

Lydia stood up, rolling her eyes once more, “Look, Aiden, the only reason you’re saying that is because you’re a territorial son of a bitch. But when we started fucking, I told you. I don’t do relationships. I do carnal urges. That’s it. If you want a girlfriend, look elsewhere, ‘cause you’re not going to get it with me. And I don’t kiss on the mouth. You know that. It’s too intimate.”

“So’s fucking,” Aiden answered back, but Lydia was just going to ignore that comment.

Checking her watch, Lydia leaned over and grabbed her purse off of the floor where she had left it. “I gotta go. I promised Stiles and Cora I’d be there early to help them set up.”

“How can you be friends with that loser, anyway?”

“I know none of you jockheads are never going to get it, but I love Stiles like he’s my brother. He’s a good guy. It’s just that you dickheads can’t see it.”

“Funny how you call us dickheads, but whenever you want cock, you always come to see us.”

Lydia smiled, “Yeah, because you guys are the best fucks on campus. It takes a self-righteous asshole to give it as good as you guys do.”

-x-

Lydia had always fallen for assholes. It wouldn’t surprise her even a little bit that the reason she liked rough sex so much was because that was how Jackson was. Even at fifteen, he had had so much more sexual experience than she did. She had thought that they were going to be together forever, but after the rogue alpha showed up in town and bit him, he decided he was too fucking good for her. He hadn’t even wanted to join the Hale pack, but needed to learn to control himself somehow. It wasn’t long before he and Derek had become friends, but people realized really quickly that Lydia was one of the only three people who could actually stand him.

She wouldn’t admit to anyone, not even at gunpoint, but Lydia thought about Jackson a lot. She thought about what they had, how they had somewhat of an understanding even though he had been a self-righteous asshole and she had been a really petty bitch. After finding out that, whoa, werewolves were real, Lydia had toned down her attitude a lot. It wasn’t long after that, that even though Jackson and his friends hated Stiles and his best friend Scott McCall, Lydia was really starting to like them. They may not have been popular, but Stiles was a really trustworthy guy, something that Lydia hadn’t had much experience with. And Scott? He was the essential good guy. Even as a werewolf, Scott had a strict moral code and never killed enemies, not even if he should’ve. He was definitely the hero of any story.

Along with Scott and Jackson changing, not soon after came Isaac Lahey, Vernon Boyd, and Erica Reyes. Then came Allison Argent – a hunter of all things, which was downright complicated for a while. Hunters and werewolves hated each other, but Talia Hale had a truce with the Argents. Allison fell in love with Isaac not much later and they were damn near inseparable. Kira came last, a kitsune, and was always with Scott. It wasn’t long before they were in love, too.

Sometimes, on Lydia’s bad days, she hated them. Well, Stiles and Cora, Isaac and Allison, and Scott and Kira. They had found their love when they were still in high school, and Lydia was attracted to the bad boys. That’s how she and Jackson had ended up together. There were a few other guys she had tried to be with, but they were just as asshole-ish as Jackson was. It wasn’t long until Lydia figured that only assholes with the god complex were attracted to her.

As she pulled up to the house that Laura, Cora, Derek, and their cousin Malia shared, Lydia tried to get her thoughts to take a backseat. They were all coming towards her full force. She cut the engine and sat there for a moment, breathing, trying to calm herself down. Every time she thought about high school and Jackson, she had always gotten irately pissed off. She was giving herself some time to cool off before she walked into that house and Laura and Cora could smell her emotions. That just pissed her off – she wished that she could’ve come with cool superpowers. Accelerated healing, werewolf strength, smelling emotions, or even turning into a wolf was pretty fucking cool. Instead, she just found dead people. She had voices in her head. She had been mistaken for a mental patient more than once by people eavesdropping on her conversations with the pack. That was just the hardship of being a banshee.

When she finally stepped inside the house, Laura was getting the beers out, Cora was messing with the surround sound, and Stiles was muttering something about how nobody ever wanted him to help out. Lydia walked right over to him, smiling, and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

“Hey Lyds,” he said, giving her a brief hug. Stiles wasn’t a wolf – he was as human as they could get, as a matter of fact, but being around the pack for as long they had made everybody that much more tactile. Wolves were tactile creatures, very touchy feely, and to the regular human observer, it’d look weird – with as much as Laura, Cora and Derek touched each other, tons of people already thought they had some weird incest-y threesome going on – but they were used to it.

“Lydia!” came Laura’s voice from the kitchen. Lydia went to see her, “Help me set things up.”

“I’m never going to get used to you being at these parties, Laur,” Lydia commented. “You’re in law school.”

Laura nodded, “Yeah, but I’m still here for my family. That includes you, you know.” A minute passed before she added, “Besides, Hale parties are legendary.”

Lydia laughed, “Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

The Hales considered Lydia family. Her father had died when Lydia was sixteen. Her family was pretty well off – and by that, it meant that the Martins were dirty fucking rich. Her father had owned his own technology company and was a certified genius. He traveled a lot for his job, and when Lydia was sixteen, and he was in New York, he was killed by a mugger. Both Lydia and her mother had taken it really hard. Natalie Martin had to be admitted to the psych ward for a while, just to get her grieving out of her system, and after a while, pack was more family than her mother was. Don’t get her wrong – Lydia loved her mother a lot, but she was only sixteen and needed to figure out a way to get on while her mother was committed.

The Hales (other than Derek, of course) had become family to Lydia at that time. Talia and her husband, William, had taken her in and for the year and a half her mother was in the hospital, and Lydia had grown close to them. She and Derek never really bonded, though, because he never spoke to her unless he had to and Lydia ignored him most of the time. He was two years older than she was, but she got enough of him during school hours, the cocky bastard.

Lydia snapped back to reality as she heard music coming from the living room. Cora walked into the kitchen at that point, and looked directly at Lydia, “Aiden? Again? He’s such a dick.”

There were moments that Lydia really hated the fact that they could smell everything on her. It was annoying as all hell, and didn’t work if she were to want to sneak around with someone. That, however, wasn’t Lydia’s style; she was never ashamed enough of who she was fucking to sneak around like that, but it still bugged her that even though she wouldn’t, she couldn’t if she wanted to.

“Aiden may be a dick, but he’s your brother’s friend, and a fantastic fuck, if I do say so myself.” Cora narrowed her eyes and Lydia grinned smugly.

Cora hated Derek’s friends. Hell, half the time, Cora hated Derek. His friends all had the god complex. The only good one in their circle of friends was Aiden’s twin brother Ethan, and that was only because Ethan was dating Danny. Danny Mahealani had been Jackson’s best friend, so Lydia had gotten a lot of exposure to him growing up, and he was one of the most compassionate people Lydia had ever known. Ethan may have started off as an asshole, but anybody spending that much time around Danny wouldn’t be an asshole for long. After all, everybody liked Danny.

Cora hated hearing about Lydia’s sex life. That made Lydia want to overshare with her as much as possible. Cora wasn’t a prude, not by a long shot, but she wasn’t as open sexually as Lydia was. She kept her indiscretions very hush hush, and Lydia liked to get under her skin. Finally, after a moment of just watching her, Cora said, “Come and help me and Stiles, Lyds,” and walked off without another glance. Laura and Lydia looked each other and burst out laughing. Cora was just way too much fun to fuck with.


	2. Chapter 2

Nursing a beer, Lydia sat down on the couch next to Malia and sighed. Lydia had met Malia when she met the rest of them – even though she was the Hales’ cousin, their Uncle Peter’s daughter, they had all lived in the same house. The Hale family had been huge – they would’ve been bigger except for the fire.

When they were younger, and while most of the family was out at an event, there was some faulty wiring that caught the house on fire. Their Aunt Vanessa, who was Peter’s wife, was one of the casualties. They had lost a few other members of the family, including four-year-old triplets that were also Peter’s, and Cora’s twin brother, too. Peter, however, had been hit, and hit hard, and spent quite a few years in Eichen House, the local psych hospital. He got out right in time to see Cora and Malia graduate. Peter had lost everyone in his immediate family except for Malia, and Talia was pretty responsible for raising her as well.

“You’re not as drunk as you should be,” Malia stated with a smile as she looked at Lydia. “It’s Friday night. Live a little.”

Lydia shook her head, “Can’t. Gotta be sober. I’ve got a twelve page paper to write for that dick, Harris.”

Adrian Harris was the chemistry professor, with a doctorate in the subject, but he was a dick. Everybody hated him, but he was especially hard on Stiles. From what anybody knew, it was because Harris knew John Stilinski, and didn’t like him. Or something like that. No one actually knew why Harris took everything out on Stiles, but he just did. Lydia hated him on principle.

“That paper’s not due until three weeks from now,” Malia said, taking a swig of her own beer.

“Yeah, well you know me. Besides, if I wait for weeks to do it, the pack’ll probably get ambushed with faeries or something.”

Even though the movies showed faeries as these sweet little creatures, they were downright mean and fucking ugly. Every time the pack had a run-in with them, they always thought they had some kind of claim on Lydia, because, technically, banshees were also a type of faeries. But Lydia hated the fuck out of them.

“So I hear you were with Aiden earlier. How was he?” Malia asked with a shameless smile. Lydia was confused for a moment, before Malia subtly nodded her head, and Lydia followed her eyes over to see Cora standing on the opposite side of the room, watching them. Lydia grinned.

“You’re only asking because you know Cora’s listening,” Lydia answered, and Malia let out a laugh. When Malia had lost her brothers, sister and mother in that fire, she had become really moody. She had been twelve at the time of the fire, and lost a lot, and for a long time, she was dangerous. She had gone feral at one point, and she had been a werecoyote instead of a werewolf, so she was a little more inhabited than the rest of them. She had killed a few people and Talia was really worried that the Argents were going to take her out. They finally settled on a truce, and with the help of the local emissary, Alan Deaton, they had finally gotten Malia sane.

Even though it had been over ten years ago that that had happened, the Hales always spent a little more time checking on Malia. They had to make sure it wasn’t going to happen again. The Hale siblings seemed to spend more time listening in on her conversations, or watching her from across the room. When Malia figured out that college wasn’t going to change that, she would often bring up things that they were embarrassed about hearing in on. Well, everyone except for Laura. Laura had no shame, either. Not that it bothered Malia or Lydia, because it really didn’t.

“So, where’s Liam tonight?” Lydia asked. Liam Dunbar had been the most recent addition to their pack. After getting hunted by a wendigo, Talia had given him the bite when he it was either the bite or death. He and Malia had gotten together not much longer, with her teaching him control, and before long they were an item.

“I don’t know. He’s been talking about trying to get Mason laid. I don’t care,” Malia said, shrugging. “I’m going to go bug Stiles for a dance, though,” she said suddenly, finishing the last of her beer.

“If you can get him away from Cora long enough,” Lydia said, laughing. Malia let out a bark of laughter that followed her across the room.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in,” came a voice not long after Malia had made her way across the room. Lydia knew that voice, and let out an exasperated sigh. Great. Just what she fucking needed right now.

“Kali,” Lydia said, trying to sound civil. “What do you want?”

“I’ve been thinking about you and your mouth,” Kali said, letting her mouth brush up against Lydia’s ear. Lydia was just as much into girls as she was guys, and she and Kali had shared nights together before. But she refused to do so now.

“Sorry,” Lydia said, snapping around to look at her. “You’ve got a boyfriend.”

“So?”

Lydia rolled her eyes. Everybody knew her rules. Kali was just ignoring them. “Rule number one: I don’t fuck anyone who’s in a relationship. I may be into casual relationships, but I refuse to be a home wrecker. You know that.”

Kali’s expression turned mean, “You’re lucky I even want you. You’re just Stilinski’s stupid friend.”

“Oh my God!” Lydia exclaimed, and it was loud enough that other people had turned to look at her. “You don’t have to get mean, Kali,” Lydia hissed. “And you guys really need to stop getting on my case about Stiles. He’s my friend, whether anyone likes it or not.” She grabbed her beer bottle and retreated up to Laura’s room. She was welcome into the entire house, but rarely came up here by herself. She sighed, opening the door and flinging herself on Laura’s bed. The one thing she didn’t realize, however, was that this was _not_ Laura’s room.

“What’re you doing in here?” came a voice, and, even though the room was dark, Lydia could see that Derek was in there, joint in his hand.

“I’m in the wrong room, aren’t I?” Lydia asked. Derek took a hit before saying, “Yep.”

“Damn,” Lydia said, finishing off her beer. “I don’t care though, Derek. I’m not moving. Too comfortable.”

“What are you doing up here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be downstairs, looking for your next victim?”

Lydia let out an exasperated sigh before saying, “What the fuck’s your problem with me? You have an issue because I keep banging your friends?”

Derek let out a laugh, “Are you kidding me? I know that you and Aiden have been fucking for over a year. He talks about it all the time. But, you should really stop, because he wants to be with you in a sense that you don’t want to be with anybody.”

“He’s territorial,” Lydia said.

“Your problem with relationships, Lydia,” Derek said, taking the last hit from the joint, “is the fact that you don’t remain monogamous to anyone. You’d get so much more out of it if you’d be faithful to someone.”

Lydia let out a cynical laugh, “That’s funny, you telling me my problems, Derek. You sleep around, too.”

“Yeah, but I’ve dated. Who was your last boyfriend?”

Lydia made a face as she thought about it.

“You can’t remember, can you?” Derek asked snidely. Lydia didn’t want to answer that no, she couldn’t, but she knew Derek already knew it.

Derek lit another joint before coming over and sitting beside her on the bed, where she was all sprawled out. “I bet if you were to remain monogamous to someone for, let’s say, six months, you’d fall in love with them. Wouldn’t take much.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, “I don’t do relationships.”

“So you’re too scared to make it a real bet then?”

Lydia sighed. Then she thought about it. Why the hell not? She could make this bet with Derek. Then she could get whatever he was offering. Maybe she could talk him into betting that sweet Camaro of his. She had had her eye on that car for too fucking long. Of course, she could always just get one of her own, but why spend the money when she could just win his?

“What’re you offering?” she ended up asking. He handed her the joint and she took a long drag from it before giving it back.

“What do you want?”

Lydia didn’t have to think about it. If she was going to jump in, right now’d be an excellent time to do it, “I want your Camaro. When I win, I want that.”

“My baby?” Derek asked. Everybody on campus knew that you did not get between Derek and his precious car. That’d just make Lydia’s victory sweeter.

“You afraid?”

Derek sighed, finishing the joint. Now he was pleasantly buzzed. “Fine. I bet you that you can’t go six months fucking me – and nobody else – without falling in love. I bet you my Camaro.”

“What do you – wait a second,” Lydia said, registering what he had just said. “Why’s it gotta be you?”

“That way I know if you’ll stick to it or not. C’mon, you can’t be afraid of me, when you fuck Aiden on the regular. He’s a hell of a lot more animalistic than I am.”

Lydia let out a sigh, thinking it over. It was true, Derek was pretty fucking hot. Even though she tried to look at him platonically, anybody with eyes could see that Derek had one hot body. She wasn’t going to lie; sometimes, Lydia watched him shamelessly, her eyes going over his body. But his personality made him that much less attractive. However, doing something like this with pack was dangerous. That was a slippery slope, considering that Derek was pack. But a part of her wondered how he was in bed, and, after thinking it over for a few minutes, she decided she was willing to risk it.

“Sure. I mean, why the hell not? What do you want if you win? And that’s a huge if, buddy.”

Derek smirked. Lydia knew that smirk; she had grown up seeing it whenever Derek got an idea in his head. Finally, he said, “I don’t want anything materialistic. I want you as my girlfriend. My _steady_ girlfriend. Hand holding, going on dates, giving gifts, all that.”

“That’s it?” she asked, a little disappointed. Lydia figured that Derek would’ve wanted a lot more.

“Hell yeah. When you fall in love with me and realize that you just can’t fuck anybody else, it’s going to make everything so much sweeter. You’d be humiliated in front of the entire campus.”

Lydia sighed; that sounded like the Derek she knew and loathed. But her mind was made up, so she stuck out her hand, “I accept.”

Derek stuck out his hand, too, and shook hers. Lydia wasn’t really sure where to go from here, so she just laid there, her eyes roaming his body.

“Hey. My eyes are up here,” Derek said. Lydia laughed.

“I can look and touch all I want to now, mister,” Lydia said. “That’s what this bet is for.”

“So I can now do this,” Derek said, lowering his mouth to her neck. She let out a moan. Everybody on the goddamn campus knew that nobody had a neck kink like Derek Hale did. He took a few minutes sucking a dark purple mark into her neck, right above where a shirt would hide, and Lydia knew exactly what he was doing. He was leaving a mark, something that said _Derek Hale was here_. As if the werewolves on campus wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise.

He knew she didn’t kiss on the mouth; everybody knew she didn’t. He moved, pulling her up so he could strip her shirt off of her, and Lydia just let him. He kissed down her body, taking a few moments to rid her of her bra, too, and just took a moment to gaze on her body. He held one of her pert breasts in his hand, stroking his thumb over the nipple. Lydia held in a groan. She loved it when people played with her breasts. She had been with too many people who had overlooked how sensitive her nipples were. Derek seemed to know, however, as he lowered his mouth to her other breast, tonguing over the nipple. He licked and nipped at it and she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning out loud.

“None of that,” Derek said, knowing what she was doing. “Let it out, baby. I want to hear you.”

“Can’t,” she said, her voice hoarse. “There are wolves down there. They’re gonna know.”

Derek laughed huskily, “Pretty soon everybody’s going to know. They’ll be able to see my marks, and smell me all over you. They’re going to know that you’re mine.”

That kind of talk should have turned Lydia off, but it was doing just the opposite. Knowing that people would see the marks, that werewolves would smell Derek’s scent all over her, it made her hotter than she had been in a very long time. Part of her wanted to be claimed, and she knew Derek was going to get off on it.

“You like that, don’t you?” he asked huskily in her ear. He was slipping his hand up her leg, up her thigh and tracing the length of her slit through her underwear. “You like the fact that people will know you’re mine. You want me to claim you, so that everyone else knows.” He was slowly stroking his finger up and down her slit through the cotton of her panties and she was feeling so much pleasure from that that she wanted to scream. It felt too fucking good.

Derek chuckled, “Feels good, doesn’t it, baby?” he said, hand slipping down her underwear to soak his fingers in her wetness. “I haven’t even gotten started yet and I bet you’re already really close.”

Never in a million years would Lydia have guessed that Derek would be a dirty talker in bed, but she was finding that she liked it. She had been with several people; some of them talkers, some of them not. The most common dirty talkers she had been with were really god awful at it and she had wanted to gag them. It made it hard to get off. But Derek knew what he was fucking doing.

Laying her down, he slipped her skirt and panties off so that she was fully naked. Her breath was coming out in pants, and she wanted to whine. She needed him in her. She didn’t care what part of him, as long as it was now. When she groaned in disappointment, Derek chuckled again. He slipped his shirt off, showing off his gorgeous chest to her, and she wanted to run her hands up it, but he pinned her hands to the bed with one of his as he started kissing down her body. When he got down to her cunt, he kissed around it – kissed her lower stomach, in-between her thighs, and down her legs. He was avoiding her outer lips as much as he could, and it was driving her insane.

“If you want me anywhere where you need me right now,” he said, eyes flicking up to look into hers, “you’re going to beg. So I can hear it.”

Lydia scoffed, “Lydia Martin does not beg. Not for anybody in the entire fucking world.”

Derek shrugged, removing his hands and getting up off the bed, “Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it. You can get yourself off. I’ll just go down and join the party.”

“No, wait!” She said, a little too loudly. “Don’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“Derek Hale, you are positively evil,” Lydia hissed out. Derek just smirked, his eyes dancing with amusement. Lydia groaned under her breath before saying, “Fine. You tell anybody about this and I’ll cut your balls off.”

Derek just raised an eyebrow.

“Derek, please come over here and get me off.”

Derek snickered, “Not good enough. You can do way better than that.”

“C’mon, what do you want me to say?”

“You’ve never begged anyone before?” Derek asked, but the amusement was still in his eyes. Silently, Lydia shook her head, and he said, “Well, you’re going to do it if you want me to touch you.”

Lydia groaned inwardly before saying, “Please, Derek, please. Please come over here and touch me. I need it so bad.”

Derek started coming closer, “You can still do better than that.”

“Goddamn it, Derek, please come over here and touch me. I don’t care what you put in me, but I need it now. I really wanna feel you. Please, I need it.”

Derek smirked, “Well, that wasn’t perfect, but it’ll have to do.” He knelt on the floor, opening her legs before blowing on her wetness. Lydia squirmed before Derek said softly, “Don’t hide your noises, either. I wanna hear them.”

When he bent over and took her clit in-between his lips, Lydia groaned, probably a little too loudly. He sucked on her clit before moving his lips down to her opening. He started fucking his tongue inside her and she groaned at him filling her. Every once in a while he took his lips away to tease her on her thighs, or on her clit, and she can honestly say that nobody had ever eaten her out quite that way. It was amazing. Before, she didn’t let anyone go down on her because they could never get her there. But the way Derek was doing it, teasing her and then going back to eating her out, then teasing her again, got her worked up. He seemed to know just when to add pressure to her clit and he slid two fingers inside of her, fucking them in and out. She was biting her bottom lip so hard that she tasted the metallic tang of her blood. Derek looked up, sliding two fingers in and out of her, his thumb rubbing her clit. 

“What’d I tell you about keeping quiet? I wanna hear you, c’mon, let it out,” he said, removing his thumb as he leaned down and took her clit into his mouth and sucked on the hardened bud. Lydia felt her orgasm, it was so fucking close, and then -

“Shit, Derek, I’m so close, please, just a little bit more, come on, just a bit more,” she begged, her voice rising. She could feel Derek smirk against her and with a bite on her clit, that was it. The pain molded with pleasure and Lydia threw her head back onto the bed. Fireworks burst in front of her eyelids, as she screamed her release into her fist. It wasn’t as loud as he wanted, but Derek knew that it was loud enough for the other werewolves to hear it, and that was satisfactory to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Aiden ambushed Lydia at her job the next day.

She worked at a small coffee shop, and even though they were competing against Starbucks, they still had quite a bit of traffic. Lydia didn't even have to get a job if she didn't want one, she had a fucking trust fund, but she was tired of hearing everyone call her the spoiled little rich girl. Besides, it gave her something to do when she wasn't at class. The money didn't hurt, either.

She was in the middle of working on someone's pumpkin spice latte ('tis the season) when Aiden came up to the counter. He looked a little pissed.

"What's this I hear about you and Hale?" he asked, not even bothering with a greeting.

Lydia finished the coffee, handing it to the customer. Yelling back to Julie that she was taking a break, she took Aiden by the hand and led him to the break room. She needed somewhere private to talk to him, and even though it wasn't exactly in the rules, Julie was laid back enough not to care.

"Derek and I made a bet," Lydia said, when they were away from prying eyes and ears. "It was his idea, and I thought, why the hell not?"

"He told me. In fact, his scent is all over you. I always thought that the two of you were something that would never happen. He's part of your pack."

Lydia nodded, "His idea. I just want to prove to him that I can sleep monogamously with someone and not fall in love with them. Besides, he bet me his fucking car. That _will_ be mine."

Aiden looked a little surprised, "You got him to bet the Camaro?"

Lydia shrugged, "Baby, I'm just that good."

Aiden laughed at her choice of words before saying, "I still can't believe you're doing this. You're not monogamous to anyone. You don't do relationships."

Lydia shrugged, "It's not really a relationship. It's just fucking. It's nothing different than what I do now."

"I heard Kali approached you at the party last night," Aiden said, changing the subject. "She was pissed because you turned her down."

"Everybody knows my rules," Lydia said. "I don't fuck people who are in relationships already. She's got a boyfriend."

"You do realize that Ennis wouldn't have cared, right? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he would've asked to watch - or, hell, even join. I know it wouldn't have been your first threesome."

"My first threesome with a monogamous couple. I don't fuck people in relationships. That's just the way it goes. And you know that I don't bend my rules for anyone."

"So I guess this means that you and I are not happening for a while," Aiden said finally. Watching him, Lydia nodded.

"Don't worry," she told him. "I _am_ going to win this bet. Things will go back to normal soon."

-x-

Things were definitely _not_ going to go back to normal, Lydia decided, lying in bed with Derek after some amazing sex. Seriously, it had been incredible, just mind blowing. She'd never had this good of sex with anyone she had ever been with. Her heart was pounding and sweat was pouring off her body, but she felt like her nerve endings were on fire. She felt almost high from the pleasure.

"It's actually pretty disappointing that you don't kiss anyone on the mouth," Derek said, leaning against the headboard, watching her. "A good make out session is just the right foreplay to sex. It's the prelude."

"I don't like it."

"Why not?" he asked, taking a finger and stroking it down her arm. Lydia pulled her arm away, "That tickles. Stop it."

Derek just shrugged

"Kissing is too intimate," she said, answering his question. "I mean, sure, kissing in other places is fine, but kissing on the mouth? It's what people who are in love do. Somehow, it seems a hell of a lot more intimate than fucking someone."

"You think sucking on a tongue is more intimate than sticking a cock in a pussy?" Derek asked bluntly. Lydia giggled.

"You don't have to say it like that," she said, but he just gave her a look. Yeah, okay, so whether he said it like that or not didn't matter. Lydia may have been a little thing, but everybody knew she could outdo any guy on campus when it came to crudity and vulgarity.

"It's just something to think about," Derek said. Deciding that she had enough of his talking, Lydia hoisted herself up so that she was sitting beside Derek, and then straddled his lap. She started kissing down his neck, leaving nips and bite marks that faded almost as soon as they showed up. She'd said it before, but sometimes she really got sick of werewolf healing.

She was still very wet, and she could feel him hardening under her touch. She reached over and grabbed a condom out of her purse on the nightstand before rolling it on him. She climbed back on top of him and slowly slid onto him. She wouldn't have been slow, mostly because she was so fucking turned on, but Derek was a little bigger than she was used to.

He hissed as she slid down on his length, and Lydia smiled. She was glad that she could do that to him. It was a source of great pride for her. She started slowly raising herself up and roughly coming back down, but pretty soon, Derek had decided that he had had enough of that. He grabbed her hips roughly, digging his fingers into them, and started using his werewolf strength to make her go faster and harder. Deciding that wasn't enough, Derek grabbed Lydia by the waist, him still inside of her, and flipped them over so she was lying on the bed and he was on top of her. He started thrusting in and out, more roughly than before, and grabbed her hair, slightly pulling it. It wasn't enough to cause pain, so Lydia grabbed his hand for a moment.

"Harder," she moaned out. "Pull my hair harder."

Derek wasn't sure why she wanted that, but he did as she asked. He got his answer after only a few more thrusts, though - she was coming around him, and the tight feeling was what sent him over the edge, too. Derek sat up and took the condom off, tying it off and throwing it in the trash can beside Lydia's bed. Lydia laid there for a moment, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Out of the corner of her eyes, she glanced at the alarm clock that said five o'clock.

"Shit," she said, rolling out of the bed and scrambling for her clothes. "Is that the right time?"

Derek was confused, "Yeah. Why?"

"My shift starts in twenty minutes. I don't even have time for a fucking shower. If I'm late again, Julie's gonna fire me."

"Are you really late that often?"

"Sometimes. When a fuck is really good and I can't pry myself out of bed in time I am." She struggled with her jeans, which the shop required for her to wear, almost falling over trying to get into them. She didn't even bother with socks, she just threw on her tennis shoes and grabbed her bright yellow t-shirt out of her dresser, throwing it on. "You can show yourself out, yes? Unless you want to spend the afternoon here with Kira and Allison."

"I can manage," Derek said with a big grin on his face. Lydia just rolled her eyes, of course he'd be like that.

"Text me when you get off," Derek yelled at her when she ran out the door and down the hallway. "We're not finished here."

-x-

When Derek walked into the house he shared with his sisters and cousin later that day, he saw Malia, Laura, Cora and Stiles sitting on the couch, talking with each other. When he walked through the front door, all of their heads popped up. It kind of reminded him of the meerkats in those discovery channel documentaries that Malia liked to watch.

"So," Stiles said, watching Derek as he took his coat off and and hung it over the recliner, "How was Lydia last night? And this afternoon?"

Derek was surprised it was Stiles, the human, instead of his sisters and cousin, the were-creatures, that picked up on that. He decided to play dumb, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you do," Stiles said.

"Okay, I give," Derek muttered. "How do you know about me and her?"

"Well she told Kira and Allison, who told their boyfriends, who I live with. Word gets around."

"Okay, yes. She and I are fucking. But that's it."

Cora made a face, "Are you sure that's it, Der? I mean, you don't want something more?"

"I'm sure," Derek said. "Lydia doesn't date. I made a bet with her to prove a point."

"Really?" Laura asked. Dammit, they were going to gang up on him. "Because everyone who has a working werewolf nose knows how you feel about Lydia Martin."

"Not that we blame you," Stiles added. Derek glared at him and Cora gave him a look, so Stiles said, "What? She's fucking hot and everybody knows it."

"It doesn't matter," Derek said. "I know Lydia doesn't date. But I'm trying to prove to her that everybody can fall in love given the right time."

"I don't know, Der," Laura said, taking a swig of the beer that Derek didn't even know she had. "I mean, I don't want you getting in too deep and not knowing how to work your way back out."

"Guys," Derek said, looking at all four of them."This isn't going blow up in my face, okay? She _is_ going to fall in love with me. I'm just that good."

-x-

Lydia was bored. She was so very, very bored. The last time she glanced at the clock, it was going on ten thirty. There was only an hour and a half of her shift left, since the coffee shop closed at midnight and opened at five AM. Julie had a rule, however, that if it was over thirty minutes since the last customer came in, they could close early. It'd been almost twenty minutes, and Lydia was contemplating closing early when someone came in.

"Hello?" a voice said, and when he turned the corner, Lydia froze in her tracks. It was someone who Lydia hadn't seen in years. Jackson Whittemore and his stupidly perfect blonde hair, his stupid charming smile, and his stupidly beautiful blue eyes. Just one look at him and she was back in high school, sixteen years old, just getting her heart ripped in pieces for the first time.

"Jackson?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Yep, Lyds, it's me. Wow," he said, his gaze going up and down her body, "You're still gorgeous."

"Uh, thank you?" she said uncertainly. "Jackson, what the fuck are you doing here? I thought you lived in London."

"I do. I came over here to visit Danny. I'm on break right now and I haven't seen Danny face to face in a while." He stopped for a minute, sighing and then giving her a coffee order.

"Seriously? You want coffee right now?"

He just shrugged, "I came here to see you, it's true, but coffee won't hurt."

She made his damn caramel latte before saying, "I don't want to see you, Jackson. You broke my heart, you know."

"And apparently I turned you out from relationships. You just sleep around now, Lyds? Is that because of me?"

Lydia shook her head, "Sorry, Whittemore. You might be good, but you're not _that_ good. I had a few failed relationships after you left, but nothing worthwhile."

"Really," he said. It was a statement, not a question, and it made Lydia want to bash his pretty face in.

"Yes, really. After you left, I had two boyfriends, one girlfriend and a surprisingly lengthy threesome with Allison and Isaac. We decided just to stay friends, though."

Jackson just raised an eyebrow.

"So," he said after taking a drink of his coffee, "what is this I hear about a bet?"

Lydia froze, "How, uh, how do you know about that?"

"Danny's boyfriend told him, who told me. Now answer the question."

"Jackson, you stepped out of my life a long ass time ago, when you moved from Beacon Hills to London. I don't even care about you anymore. You used to be my friend, my boyfriend, but you broke my heart and I honestly don't give a fuck about you anymore. You want to know the details, go ask Danny or Ethan, since everybody on this whole goddamn campus seems to know everything about my personal life. Now, just go."

"Chill, Lydia," Jackson said, holding his hand up in surrender. "I didn't mean anything by it. But I'll leave, okay? See you on the flipside."

Lydia rolled her eyes; Jackson always seemed more suave and smooth than he really was. Seriously, he always accused Stiles of acting like a dork? Jackson had been a lot worse than Stiles, but nobody but Lydia ever saw it. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out how this altered the game. Seriously, what _was_ he doing here? And did he come to see Lydia tonight just to torture her? She had spent a lot of time hoping they could be friends again, but seriously, what the fuck did he want?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm coming up to the chapters I've already finished, so updates might not go as they've been going after I hit the next chapter. Please bear with me. This story is in my head almost always, so I write on it a lot, so I am not going to forget it. I have a tiny procrastination problem, but I'm getting better at that, I promise.

"So, what exactly was the SOS about?" Cora asked, sitting on Lydia's bed while Lydia typed up her chemistry report.

"Jackson fucking Whittemore is in town, that's what it was about. I have no fucking clue what the hell he wants or why he even popped into the shop to see me last night, but that doesn't matter, okay? What fucking matters is that when I see him, or am around him, I feel like I'm sixteen again. It's like he fucking owns me, that I would do whatever he wanted me to do as long as he loves me again. I never really got over him, Cor. And that fucking kills me inside."

"You still like him?" Stiles piped up, even though he wasn't really adding to the conversation.

"Of course she does, Stiles, try to keep up," Cora said, slightly annoyed. But Lydia shook her head.

"It's not like that, okay?" she said. "It's more like I..." her voice trailed off before she looked up from her laptop and wiped a hand over her face, defeated. "Goddamn it. Okay, yeah, it's exactly fucking like that."

"Fuck him," Cora said, but then looked around awkwardly as Stiles laughed. "I don't mean like that. I mean, who the fuck even cares what he thinks?"

"I do," Lydia said, almost snapping. "I mean, I get that he doesn't love me, but I think I still kinda love him."

She saw the looks on Cora and Stiles' faces that they tried to hide - looks of sympathy. That just pissed her off. So, deciding she was done talking about this, she said, "Okay, that's it. Everybody out."

"Why are we being kicked out of your room?" Stiles asked.

"Because I'm calling Derek and he's going to come over and fuck the thought of my ex right out of me. That's why."

Lydia was sure that she saw a look of disgust on Stiles' face, but actually laughed when Cora made a face and said, "Ew, gross. TMI, seriously."

-x-

Lydia had only been waiting for about five minutes when she looked over at her window and saw Derek sitting on her windowsill. "Don't you Hales believe in doors?" she asked him. She may have sounded a little upset, but the fact that Derek, and even Cora and Malia always came through the window whenever they wanted to see her kind of amused her, in a way. It was almost like they didn't want Allison or Kira to know they were there.

Derek just shrugged, slipping off his leather jacket as he came closer His eyes ran up and down her body before he said, "If you were the type to kiss on the mouth, that is definitely what we'd be doing right now. I can't exactly be seductive when I can't kiss you."

Lydia shrugged, starting to pull off the white tank top she'd been wearing. Derek just shook his head, "No, that's my job."

Lydia shrugged once more as Derek started undressing her. Derek wasn't going to say it, but he was pretty irritated at the fact that he couldn't kiss her on the mouth. He had gone into this bet knowing full well that Lydia didn't kiss anyone on the mouth, but he was starting to wish that she would. Or, at least, that she'd bend or break her rule just for him. It wasn't like she was seeing or fucking anyone else. If she was, he'd know - and not just because he'd be able to smell it on her. Derek pretty much knew everything that happened on campus, and people had been watching Lydia for the last few weeks. When people wanted to get in with Derek's clique (or whatever the hell you wanted to call it) they went to him and tried to barter, usually with information they thought he'd want. He was pretty popular on campus and a lot of people were dying to hang out with him.

When they were both naked, Lydia slid to her knees. She looked up at him through her long lashes and then grasped his dick with one of her small hands. She started jerking it slowly, trying to figure out which way he liked it best, and that's when it hit him: since they had been sleeping together, she'd never gone down on him. She licked her lips as she watched him, running her hand up and down his length. Derek felt a little insecure with her just looking at him like that, which was really out of character for him.

She didn't start of slow; she sucked his dick into her mouth and started sucking it, hollowing out her cheeks. She put everything into this blowjob, and it wasn't long until Derek was thrusting into her mouth. She grabbed his hands and put them in her hair. She pulled off and said, "Pull my hair, Derek. Fuck my mouth. Be rough with me - I like it."

Derek started fucking her mouth and she groaned. She was totally into it. Her hand reached down to rub her clit while she sucked him off - the friction felt fucking _amazing_ \- and it wasn't long until Derek tried pulling her off of him. She continued to suck him down, her eyes connecting with his.

"Don't want to come yet," Derek gritted out, but Lydia didn't care. She put all the experience she had ever gained into making him come right now. When he finally went over the edge, she swallowed every drop and then pulled off with a dirty _pop_. Looking up at him, she started to get up of the floor.

"I like the way you taste," she said, answering the unasked question. Derek wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just shrugged.

"I want you to take me from behind and fuck me. I want you to pound into me," Lydia said, grabbing a condom out of her nightstand drawer and handing it to him before she got onto the bed on her hands and knees. "I want it hard and fast. Think you can do that for me?"

It didn't take long at all for him to get hard again, especially with Lydia saying stuff like that, and he stroked his cock a couple of times before rolling the condom on and entering her with one thrust. Lydia groaned at the sensation. He pounded into her from behind as she reached down to rub her clit. He grabbed her hair and pulled hard - and Lydia groaned at that, too. She wasn't going to last long, and she knew it, but was enjoying this so fucking much.

It wasn't long before she was coming around him, and she said, "Don't you fucking dare think about stopping, Hale. I want more. I want all you can fucking give me."

She had reached three orgasms before Derek came, ripping off the condom and coming on her back and ass. She didn't usually let guys do that, but with Derek, it felt awesome. Lydia was finding out that a lot of things she would never let anyone get away with, she liked it when Derek did them. That fact was really starting to worry her.

Lydia gathered his come on her fingers and sucked it off. She wasn't making it up when she had said she liked the way he tasted. After she cleaned his come off of her, she laid down on her bed, on her back. Derek just looked at her for a moment.

"You're welcome to stay," Lydia said, sighing and pulling a blanket over her naked body. "That way we can have more sex later. Or you can go. Whatever you want."

"Is Jackson fucked out of your system yet?" Derek asked.

"Nope, definitely not. I'm going to need more help doing that, trust me."

Derek lay next to Lydia, deciding on staying, but Lydia was starting to get sleepy. She looked at him, "If you try to cuddle me, Derek Hale, I will cut your balls off," she threatened. "I don't cuddle. That's a couple thing, not a me thing."

"I know for a fact that you cuddle with Stiles and Cora all the time. So, that statement's not entirely accurate."

Lydia sighed, "Fine. I don't naked cuddle anyone, and I sure as hell don't cuddle after sex. Ever."

Derek nodded silently, getting out of bed and pulling his clothes on. Lydia was breathing deeply, so Derek knew that she was already asleep, and went out into the living room. Kira was out there, playing video games with Scott - Stiles was there as well, but he was working on his chemistry report. Scott and Stiles had taught Kira how to play _Halo_ not that long ago and she had really taken a great liking to it. In fact, the Xbox they were playing it on was new, because Kira loved the game so much she wanted one of her own.

" _Halo_ again?" Derek asked as he sat down in the recliner next to the couch. "Aren't you ever going to get sick of that game?"

"Probably not," Kira said, shooting at Scott on screen. "I love this game."

"You were playing it yesterday while I was here," Derek commented.

"Spending a lot of time here, Derek?" Stiles asked. "I still think that this is going to blow up in your face."

"It's not," Derek said. "I know exactly what I'm going. This is going to work."

Stiles gave him a disbelieving look, but didn't say anything, before he went back to typing up his paper.

-x-

November fifteenth was a bad day. It was the day that Lydia's dad was killed by a mugger in New York City, and Lydia liked to spend the day with her mom. This year, she wasn't going to make it back to Beacon Hills, and that made her worry about her mom even more. She was worried about her a lot, being so far away, even though the parents of everyone in the pack usually got together with her to kind of take her mind off of things. It was still a bad day for Lydia, though, and she didn't usually even get out of bed on that day. She always skipped classes and called in sick to work.

This year, the fifteenth of November was on a Saturday, so Lydia didn't have class, but she called in sick to work anyway. She lounged around her bedroom in a pair of pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt that had belonged to her dad. Her mom had given away a lot of his clothes after he died, but Lydia had kept a few items. She didn't really feel like doing anything today, though. Kira and Allison were out with their boyfriends. They had a scheduled double date on Saturday afternoons - they always went to the movies and had pizza afterwards. Knowing that she was alone actually made Lydia feel better. On this day, she liked to just be. She didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to see anyone - she just wanted to be alone. She didn't want anybody to bother her.

Of course, when she went into her room to take the third nap of the day around two o'clock, Lydia cursed when she saw Derek sitting on her windowsill.

"What do you want, Hale?" she asked rudely. Today, she didn't give a single fuck about how she sounded.

"I was checking up on you. I know what today is."

"Yeah, I know. The whole fucking pack knows. Something you'd know, Derek, if you'd have ever bothered to actually talk to me or get to know me at all in the past, is that I like to be alone today. I don't want anything to do with anyone. Why do you think that neither Stiles _nor_ Cora are here?"

"Because they're out with Scott, Kira, Allison and Isaac?" Derek asked. Lydia just gave him a look, so Derek said, "What? They are."

"Don't care," Lydia said. "I'm sure you can show yourself out."

"Look, Lydia, I wanted to make sure you're okay. You know that Malia still gets depressed on the anniversary of Aunt Vanessa and her siblings' deaths, too?"

"Your point?" Lydia asked.

"You should be around people. We're pack, we're family."

"Not you, Derek," Lydia said. "You may be pack, but you are definitely _not_ my family. You've always made that clear in the past. The only difference is that now we're fucking, and you're going out of your way to be nice to me. Don't fucking do that, okay? You can go now."

Lydia lay down in her bed, but Derek didn't leave. He sat down on her bed beside her, and she said, "What the hell, Derek?"

"Hey, at least let me draw you a bubble bath. Bubble baths always help Malia on her bad days. At least let me do that for you."

"You know, knowing that about your cousin is just a little creepy."

Derek rolled his eyes, "Just let me do this for you, Lydia. Please."

Sighing, Lydia nodded, "If it's the only way I can get rid of you, then fine."

This was the first time that Derek had shown up to talk or be with Lydia where there was no sex involved. He disappeared into the bathroom, and she could hear water running. What the hell was wrong with her? Lydia didn't let her fuck buddies in, except to fuck. And hell, she and Aiden had been fucking for a year and a half, and sometimes they saw each other at places, and sometimes they shared a meal, but that was that - they weren't friends. They were fuck buddies. This is what her relationship was supposed to be with Derek. It wasn't working out that way.

When Derek came out to help her into the bathroom, Lydia snapped, "I can do it myself, Hale." She didn't care about how she sounded because Derek Hale was _not_ her friend. He was a fuck buddy and nothing more. She had to remember that.

He had been right about one thing, however. The hot water in the bubble bath felt heavenly. She was so relaxed that she almost fell asleep, and didn't even realize it when Derek came in, lifted her out of the tub, toweled her off and put her in bed. She fell asleep right away and Derek wasn't one hundred percent sure what to do. He went out into the living room, turning on ESPN to have some noise. They were talking about college teams that were going the distance this year, but he wasn't paying any attention to that. He was too lost in his own thoughts.

What the hell was he doing here? He had only started this thing with Lydia to prove that yes, even Lydia Martin could fall in love. Lydia'd been fucking around for years, and she'd never given herself a chance to really fall in love with anyone. Derek knew what kind of a dick Jackson Whittemore was; hell, everyone knew what kind of a dick Jackson was. The only three people who even tolerated him before he left for London had been Derek, Lydia and Danny. Nobody else could stand to be around him. But when Jackson had broken up with Lydia, he messed her up. Derek knew that Lydia was never going to be the same person she used to be. Of course, when Lydia found out she was a banshee in the middle of sophomore year because she got bit by a rogue alpha and was left bleeding out on the lacrosse field definitely changes a person. 

What Laura had said to Derek about him being in love with Lydia was true, he _was_ in love with her, and he had been for a very long time. Ever since the first time Cora had brought Lydia home with her when they were in the seventh grade, Derek had been hooked. One look at her, her overwhelming scent had told him - she was his mate. He knew right away, as his mother had always told him that he would. And she wasn't _just_ his mate. Lydia was everything - she was gorgeous, she was brilliant, and she didn't take anybody's bullshit. Derek was actually pretty surprised that she had put up with Jackson for as long as she did.

So yes, Derek had a thing for Lydia. It was getting worse lately, though, and Derek had tried desperately to move on before now. He'd dated Kate, who turned out to be a psychotic bitch, and then there was Paige, but they just hadn't clicked. He had only avoided Lydia when they were teenagers because he was afraid to be around her - he wanted her badly, and practically everyone with a working werewolf nose knew it, too. He wasn't as bad of a person as Lydia accused him of being, but then again, despite her living in his house for a year and a half in high school, they still didn't know each other that well. He wanted to change things, to make them different, but what if Laura was right? What if doing this stupid bet just made them worse? What if Lydia _didn't_ fall in love with him?

When Lydia came out of her bedroom once more in her pajama pants and oversized t-shirt, Derek was still there, not really watching TV. She just glared at him, "What are you still doing here, Hale?"

"I stayed. To make sure you're okay. I'm worried about you, Lydia."

"You do _not_ get to worry about me, Derek. We're _not_ friends. We've never been friends. Your family is my family, and that is because they were there when I needed them, but you almost went out of your way to avoid me. Since that is the way it is, I don't understand why you would change just for me. I don't need your fucking sympathy."

"I know, and that's not why I'm here," he said, but he could tell that she didn't believe him.

She let a moment of silence pass between the two of the before she said, "Look, I'm okay, right? Besides that, Allison and Kira are going to be home from their date any time now, so you can leave. Everything will be fine. Now please, just go."

Surprising both Lydia and himself, Derek did as she asked.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually my last update for this story for a little while. The next chapter’s half written, but a lot is going on with me right now, and I want to update my other stories that I’ve been neglecting, and so I don’t exactly know when the next time I’m gonna be able to update it, exactly.

A week passed, and Lydia and Derek hadn't spoken since that day in Lydia's apartment. Lydia hadn't reached out to Derek, and, in turn, he hadn't called. Truthfully, she had hit a nerve when she had snapped at him like she did. What she had said was true, and he _had_ gone out of his way just to avoid her, but things were different since he was a werewolf and she was a banshee. Lydia was his mate, and he went out of his way to avoid her because Lydia was...special. Whether it was rejection that he feared, or if it was just that he couldn't stand to hurt her, he wasn't sure.

Derek was sitting in the recliner in the house he shared with his sisters and cousin, the TV on but he wasn't really paying attention to it. He was too wrapped up in his own head. 

"I hear that you and the missus had a lovers' spat," Malia said, plopping down on the couch next to the chair. "You okay?"

"Look, Malia, I really don't want to be teased right now," Derek said. "It's bad enough that we're going home tomorrow and I have to suffer through a pack Thanksgiving dinner with her there."

"I'm not teasing, Der," Malia said softly. Derek could see the serious look on her face. "I know she's your mate."

Derek watched Malia for a moment, dumbfounded. After the moment passed, he finally said, "How do you know that?"

"I can tell. It's the way that Dad used to look at Mom when she was alive. The mate bond is pretty much just a really strong feeling. And, let me guess - she doesn't know that you feel that way. And you're being an idiot and not telling her, either."

"We've known Lydia a long time," Derek said. "I can't jeopardize anything by just telling her."

"Derek, we both know that's bullshit," Malia said, and it reminded Derek why, even though he loved his younger cousin, he hated her sometimes. "You're not telling her because you're scared. We both know that you wouldn't be jeopardizing _anything_."

"It doesn't matter, Mia," Derek said, using the nickname she had grown up with. "Lydia doesn't do relationships, remember? There's no way she'd date me. She doesn't date _anyone_."

There was a moment where Malia was silent, so Derek added, "Besides that, I've pretty much fucked everything up with her. She hates me now than ever."

"Look, Der," Malia said, watching him seriously for a moment. "I'm the very last person that should be giving you advice, because I just found my mate, and Liam and I haven't been together for very long, and I know practically next to nothing about love, but why don't you just be honest with her? Just tell Lydia how you feel. Mom always told me that honesty was always the best policy."

Malia almost never brought up her mother, so Derek knew that she was at least trying. "Thanks for that advice, Mia," he said, sighing. "But I don't think it's going to work that way."

"I just want you to know that I think you should be honest with her. Everybody deserves the truth."

Not even five minutes after Malia got up, telling Derek that she had a date with Liam to get ready for, Derek's phone rang. It was Lydia's ringtone, too, which Derek wasn't sure why she would even be calling him. She was pissed at him.

"What do you want?" Derek said, not even bothering to say hello. "You're mad at me, remember?"

"Yeah, I am. But I'm also fucking horny as hell, so I would really appreciate it if you'd come over here and fuck me. Please," she added, sounding almost like an afterthought. Derek thought it over for a moment. "Sure," he said finally, not really sure if he was crazy for doing this, or if he should be doing this at all. "I'm on my way. Give me five minutes."

"You'd better hurry," Lydia added. "If you take too long, I'm going to ride my dildo instead."

That gave Derek incentive to hurry a little faster. He got there in just under three minutes.

By the time Derek climbed through Lydia's window, she was naked, on top of her comforter, three fingers inside of herself. She had her head thrown back, eyes closed, and was biting off a moan.

He took a minute to just admire the view. She was fucking stunning, and he'd always thought so. There was just something about her, and Derek was pretty sure it wasn't the mating bond between the two of them. Lydia was special - she was brilliant, and beautiful - the whole package, really. Derek sat on the windowsill, watching her, and almost fell out of the window when she spoke.

"Are you gonna sit there and be a voyeur, or are you gonna come and help me?" Lydia asked him. Okay, yeah, they were doing this, he had decided, but they were gonna do it _his_ way.

"I don't know," he said, just sitting on the windowsill. "How badly do you want me right now?"

Lydia groaned, "I don't really have the patience to do this right now, Hale."

"You're the one who called me, _Martin_ ," Derek responded. "So if I'm gonna come over there and get you off, you've gotta give me a little incentive."

"Fucking me isn't incentive enough?" she asked incredulously.

"Nope," he said. "You've gotta give me something else to work with."

"God, Derek, egomaniac much?" she mumbled under her breath, but knew he'd be able to hear it. Derek wasn't giving in, though, so he just sat there and waited.

"Fine. I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you. You have to admit, though, in the past you've gone almost completely out of your way to ignore me. But since you left here last week, all I've been able to think about is your cock. Fucking Christ, Derek, I want it in me. I need to feel your thick cock filling me up. I don't care if it's my pussy or my mouth, I'll take anything right now. _Please_."

The way that Lydia said please would have had Derek rock hard in seconds if he hadn't been there already. She sounded needy, full of desperation, and it made him want. Instead, he slowly got up off the windowsill, stripping off his Henley and said, "How bad do you want me, Lydia?"

"So, so bad," Lydia said, her voice thick with desperation. "I need to feel you inside of me. Your cock fills me up so good, like nobody had ever been able to. You're so thick, so fucking big, you feel so fucking good inside of me, and I need it now. Please, Derek, give it to me."

"Who am I to keep something like that from you when you obviously want me so bad?" he asked, shedding the rest of his clothes. Derek knelt on the floor in front of the bed and looked at Lydia, "I wanna eat you out, but first, I want you to tell me how badly you want it. _Do_ you want it, Lydia? Do you want me to eat you until you come?"

Lydia just groaned, but nodded enthusiastically. Derek figured that would work well enough for an answer, so he spread her legs and attacked her clit with his tongue and teeth.

He really did enjoy giving head to her. She tasted as good as she smelled, and, even though Derek had always enjoyed giving oral, Lydia was better than that. She was so very responsive and he loved the noises she made. It'd been almost a month since the start of their bet and Lydia didn't really bite back her noises anymore; sure, sometimes she tried to be quiet, but Derek always pushed her to let them out. He fucking loved it when she did.

As he fucked her with his tongue, Lydia let out these delicious moans. Derek slid two fingers in her and sucked on her clit, and it wasn't long before Lydia was screaming her release into the empty room.

"Fuck, Derek, so fucking good," Lydia said, coming down from her high. Derek wondered if she realized she was as loud as she was. She looked at him, "Come up here with me."

Taking off his boxers, he threw them on the floor and got onto the bed. He lay down beside her and, grabbing a condom out of her nightstand, she rolled it onto him. She sank down on him quickly, loving the feeling of him inside of her. He filled her so well, he just felt fucking _amazing_. Lydia was beyond ready for him, and the pace she set was rough and fast. She grabbed onto his shoulders as she hoisted herself up and down on his cock, and her noises were getting louder. Part of her was embarrassed about that - Lydia wasn't normally that loud, and she knew she'd have to hear the bitching about it from Kira and Allison later - but the rest of her didn't give a single fuck. Derek made her feel just incredible and she loved being with him. He definitely was the best sex she'd ever had, and he wasn't overly possessive like Aiden had been. Derek reached in-between them to rub at her clit, and she knew she wasn't going to last long. She was trying to hold off so they could come together, but that's when Derek sat up, readjusting them, and then whispered huskily in her ear, "C'mon, Lydia, let go. I wanna feel you come around me."

When she finally went over the edge, her body trembled like it never had before. The orgasm took her by surprise and she cried out. It was the most intense orgasm she'd ever had. Derek held onto her until she could remain breathing normally.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked as she climbed off of him. She plopped down on her back on the bed and tried to get her heartbeat under control. It felt like it was going to leap right out of her chest.

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm gonna be fine. Holy shit, Derek, that was fucking incredible. We've gotta do that again sometime."

"I'm game if you are," he said, "just as long as it isn't right now. I know I'm a werewolf, and I know my recovery time is excellent, but I need a break. That was just...God, Lyds."

"My sentiments exactly," Lydia said, reaching down onto the floor to pick up a pair of sleep shorts and her tank top. Not bothering to get out of bed, she put the clothes on and then covered herself up with a blanket. "You can stay, leave, or whatever. Kira's playing _Halo_ out in the living room with Allison, but you can probably hear that. She's been playing nonstop for almost two days. I need a fucking nap. You can nap with me, if you promise not to cuddle me. I don't cuddle."

"So you've said," Derek said. "I could use a nap."

Derek lay next to Lydia, telling himself that he was only going to close his eyes for five minutes, and when he opened them again, it was after seven. He had been asleep for almost four hours. He looked next to him, and Lydia was still asleep. He got up as quietly as he could, put his clothes back on, and went out to see what Kira and Allison were doing.

"Look, Der," Kira said when she noticed him, "I'm all for this bet thing. I think that if you play your cards right, you might be able to get Lydia to fall in love with you. But do you have to be so goddamned loud about the sex? I mean, really? I don't want to hear that shit."

"I'd say I was sorry," Derek said after a moment, "but I'd be lying. It's a real turn on for me and I don't give two fucks about what you do and don't want to hear."

Allison snickered from her place on the couch, where she was streaming _My Little Pony_ on Netflix.

 _My Little Pony_ , Ally, really?" Derek groaned. Then he sighed, "Whatever. I guess it's better than _Halo_."

"Hey, _Halo_ fucking rocks," Kira said to him. "But Ally kinda forbade me from playing it for a while since I was on a bender."

"Thirty six hours, Der," Allison said, groaning. "I couldn't take it anymore. So yeah, she's taking a break from her video game and I'm gonna sit here and not act my age while watching _Pony_. Don't front - I know that you watch this show sometimes, too."

Derek rolled his eyes, "Uh, yeah, have you met my sisters? Cora and Laura fucking love that show and they rope me into watching it with them. I'd do anything for my family."

Allison just smiled.

"Are you guys leaving together tomorrow?" Derek asked after a moment of silence. "I mean, everybody's going home, right?"

"Isaac wants to stay, but he wouldn't do that to your parents," Allison said. "He knows how much the holidays mean to them."

Isaac had become somewhat of an adopted brother to Derek when Isaac was sixteen and Derek was eighteen. Isaac's father, who was an abusive douchebag and his only family, had died when Isaac was sixteen by a homicidal serial killing creature called a kanima. Mr. Lahey had been its first victim, and honestly, nobody was really even that sad when it happened. Seriously, he used to lock Isaac up in a freezer. A fucking freezer, okay? After he died, Talia and William Hale kind of adopted Isaac. They didn't want to see him go into the system, and he was pack, so they gave him a place to live and supported him, and even gave him the option of being adopted by them, but he wanted to keep the Lahey name. As he told them before, his dad hadn't always been that way, and he was holding onto the good memories, even though they were far and few between.

"Well, he'd better show up there tomorrow," Derek said. "It'll break Mom's heart if Isaac doesn't show. Honestly, sometimes I think she likes Isaac better than the rest of us."

"It's because he's so goddamned cute," a voice said from behind him. He turned and saw Lydia standing there. "Honestly, he's like an overgrown puppy or something."

Derek nodded.

"Where are you headed, Lyds?" Allison asked, and it took a moment before Derek realized that Lydia was dressed in actual clothes.

"I'm gonna pick up a pizza," Lydia said. "I have a craving."

"Let me come with you," Derek said after a moment, seeing an opportunity and jumping for it. Honestly, he just wanted to get Lydia alone so he could talk to her. "I'd love to help."

"You can even pay for it," Lydia said, but Derek just shrugged. The Martins may have been filthy fucking rich, but the Hales weren't that far from them. They were extremely well off.

On the way to the pizza parlor, Derek looked over at Lydia, "Look, I'm sorry about last week. I also hate you for making me say that. But you were right. I don't really know that much about you, because I never cared to learn. But I want to now. I want to be your friend, Lydia."

Lydia gave him a confused look, "Huh?"

"You're family to my family. Laura, Cora and Malia treat you like you're family; hell, most of the time, they treat you better than they treat me. Mom and Dad took care of you while your mom was in Eichen House. I was always just a self-righteous dick who cared more about myself than anybody else, and I should've been nicer to you."

"Where is all this coming from?" Lydia wondered aloud.

"It's not important. I just want you to know that I really am sorry, and especially since the pack is family, I don't want anything to weird you out over the break. That's it. You don't have to make a big deal out of it."

"Okay, Derek," Lydia said, feeling a little confused. "Thanks, I guess."

-x-

"Something is happening," Lydia said the next day, driving back to Beacon Hills, Stiles in the passenger's side front seat. "Derek's acting weird."

"How weird?" Stiles asked as he fiddled with the radio. He hadn't wanted to ride shotgun with Lydia, he had wanted to bring his own blue Jeep, but it was in the shop right now. Considering that Jeep was older than Stiles, he really ought to to think about replacing it sometime soon, but he loved it too much to part with it. It had been his mom's, after all, and that sentimental value was a big deal to Stiles. Lydia figured he'd probably keep it after it was just a paperweight; he'd probably force Cora to let him keep it in their garage. Lydia understood a little bit, after all, seeing as though she had kept several of her dad's things after he died, but she just didn't see the point in Stiles trying so damn hard to keep that Jeep.

"He apologized to me last night, Stiles," Lydia said, sighing. "He actually apologized to me about our stupid fight."

"What's new about that?" Stiles asked, changing the radio station for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. "Derek apologizes."

"He treats you guys differently than he treats me, alright?" Lydia said, somewhat agitated. "He's always treated me differently."

"There's nothing I can really tell you, Lyds," Stiles said, deciding on a Top 40's station that was playing Taylor Swift at that moment. "But then again, it's not only Derek who treats you differently. You treat him differently, too."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Think about it, Lyds. You lived in the Hale house for almost two years, right?" She nodded, so Stiles continued. "In those two years, did you guys ever talk to each other? I mean, _really_ talk to each other?"

"You know damn well we didn't," Lydia said, frustrated. "You practically lived there, remember? You and Cora were practically inseparable back then."

"Exactly, so I know what I'm talking about. You guys avoided each other. Sure, Derek went out of his way to avoid you - I'm not refuting that point. He did do that, you're right. But you never went out of your way to talk to him, either."

"That's because Derek Hale was a bastard, okay? He never talked to me, he was cocky as fuck, and I would've just been wasting my time."

Stiles was silent, but Lydia could tell by the look on his face that he was chewing his thoughts over in his head. So she decided to wait for him to actually speak. About two minutes later, when he did speak, he said, "Do you even like him, Lyds? I mean, as a friend?"

"Sure," she said, only she wasn't sure how true it was. "Sure, I like Derek."

"Tell me, why'd you take this bet?"

Lydia sighed; she had asked herself that question several times in the last month. Finally, she answered, "He bet me his car, Stiles. That thing _will_ be mine."

"I know that, you've told me that much before," Stiles said, watching Lydia carefully. "But I don't think that's why."

"Okay, so he's fucking hot, too. And don't even try to deny it, Stiles - I believe even the straightest of men would find Derek Hale hot. We know that woudn't be a problem for you, though, since we all know you're bi and have been forever."

"Yeah, you got me there," Stiles answered. "Derek is pretty hot. But other than that, did you have a reason for taking this bet?"

Lydia shrugged, "I mean, he's trying to show me that anybody can fall in love, right? And I live for proving assholes like him wrong. There's nothing between the two of us. I mean, sure, if he wants to be friends, I can do that. I'm good at being friends, and I'm excellent at being fuck buddies. But dating - I don't do that, and everybody knows it."

"It's been a long fucking time since Jackson broke your heart, Lyds," Stiles started, "and I know that the assholes after him helped a lot. But not everybody's like that. You're missing out on the good stuff."

"Look, Stiles, I love you, and I'm happy that you and Cora are in love and everything," Lydia answered, "but I don't want that. I don't think that it's worth it, sticking my neck out for someone to be in love with when all I've done is get my heart crushed time after time. I tried to find my special somebody in high school - I tried three fucking times, in case you've forgotten. I couldn't find the right one and I didn't want to keep feeling the heartbreak. What you have with Cora, what Scott and Kira, and even Allison and Isaac have, I'm just not destined for that. I'm okay with that. Why can't anybody else be?"

"We care about you, Lyds," Stiles said weakly. "That's why."

It was only a three hour drive from Berkeley to Beacon Hills, and by the time they got to the sheriff's house, Lydia was dying to get out of that damn car. She walked through the front door behind Stiles and they saw their parents drinking coffee at the dining room table.

"Good to see you guys," John said, and Natalie just smiled at the two of them. Stiles and Lydia had known for a while that their parents had been involved with one another - whether they would admit it or not, because they had told both Stiles and Lydia that they were _just friends_ , but neither Stiles nor Lydia bought that for a single second. John and Natalie looked just as cozy as ever, and Lydia bit back a smile.

After her father died, Lydia wasn't sure that her mother would ever be happy again. And while Lydia's parents weren't always happy, they had loved each other tremendously and that was all that had mattered. They meant a great deal to one another, and after her year and a half stay at Eichen House, Natalie didn't seem like she'd ever move on. But with John being not only the sheriff, but a nice guy, they got to know each other, especially considering Stiles and Lydia were really close at that point. Both Lydia and Stiles wanted nothing more than their parents to be happy. When Claudia Stilinski had died, nobody thought that the sheriff would move on at all. Believe it or not, this was progress.

Later that night, after Natalie and Lydia had gone back home, her mother cornered her in the parlor. "I heard that you're spending an inordinate amount of time with Derek Hale."

Lydia shrugged, "Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, you know, around," her mother said, trying to act coy. It didn't suit her. Natalie noticed Lydia's unimpressed look, so she sighed, "I heard it from John, who heard it from Talia, who heard it from her daughter Laura. So, anything going on between the two of you?"

Lydia shook her head. She couldn't exactly tell her mother the truth, so she just said, "We're just friends, Mom."

"Just friends?" her mother repeated. "I don't know, Lydia, you guys have known each other for a long time."

"Don't, Mom," Lydia said. Her mother looked at her, confused. "Derek and I are friends. It's actually a far cry from what we used to be, where we just tolerated each other's existence. He's an okay guy, I guess, but I'm not dating anyone right now, especially not Derek."

"You haven't dated anyone in a long time, Lyds," her mom was saying. "Don't think I haven't noticed. It's just that I'm your mother and I worry about you. I know that you worry about me, too, but we're all each other have. And I know you know that John and I are dating and...I guess what I'm saying is that you deserve better than what you're getting. You let everything with Jackson Whittemore get you down so much, and from what I hear, you and Derek see a lot of each other."

 _That's it_ , Lydia thought to herself. _Laura is officially dead. I'm gonna kill her._

"There's nothing going on between Derek and me, Mom," Lydia said after a few moments of silence. "We're friends. It's nice to spend time with someone. Besides that, we're pack. It's what pack does for each other."

Natalie nodded, "Alright. Lydia, I just worry about you."

Lydia smiled, "I know, Mom, and I appreciate that. Look, I'm going out for a while. I'd like to go and have a chat with Laura."

"Alright, darling," Natalie said. "I'll see you later tonight."

"'kay," Lydia said, grabbing her jacket. She was going to totally kill Laura Hale.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so anybody remember my note on the last chapter saying it'd be a while before I updated again? Just forget that. I don't know what the hell actually happened here, but this chapter pretty much wrote itself. It flowed so freaking well and I barely had to do any editing at all. I'm actually quite pleased with the way it came out, to be honest. Out of the chapters I've written so far, this is definitely one of my favorites.

When Lydia burst through the front door of the Hale house, nobody was even surprised. Well, the only one who had been in the living room was Peter, and he was relaxing in a chair with a well-worn book in his hands. He looked up when she entered.

"What a nice surprise, Lydia," he said. "Derek's downstairs."

Lydia made a face, "You've known me for a really long time, Peter. How many times have I ever been over here to see Derek?"

"True point," Peter said, setting his book down on the coffee table. "But then again, you haven't always had an _arrangement_ with Derek, now have you?"

Lydia sighed, "I don't know why I didn't think that he would tell you. Of course you fucking know. But, I'm not here to see Derek. I'm actually here to see Laura."

"She's down there, too," Peter said.

Talia had turned the basement into a rec room of sorts several years ago. Derek always complained of not having somewhere to go just to relax, and the idea of the room was born. Derek was usually the only one who used it - Laura didn't have time, Cora hated it down there, and Malia preferred to be outside. Lydia was a little surprised that the four of them were down there together - as family oriented as the entire family really was, Derek didn't really spend much time with his sisters and cousin. When Lydia went downstairs, they were just watching a movie. Lydia sighed, "Laura, you and I are about to have a problem."

Laura jumped a little, even though Lydia knew she must've heard her coming. Laura turned around, "Hey, Lyds. It's nice to see you, too."

"Cut the bullshit, Laur," Lydia said. "You told my mom that Derek and I were seeing a lot of each other."

"Did you really?" Derek groaned. "Laura, why?"

"Actually, I believe I told _Mom_ that you and Derek were spending time together. She wanted to know, so I told her. It's not my fault that your mom knows, too."

"Again, cut the bullshit, Laura. My mom asked me if Derek and I were dating. She told me how I need to open up myself to someone, it's been a long time since I had my heart broken, blah, blah, blah," Lydia said. "I don't want to have to explain fuck buddies to my mother."

"I'm pretty sure she already knows what they are," Laura said, trying to be funny. Lydia just groaned.

"That's not what I meant, and you fucking know that. Seriously, Laura, why?"

"They worry about you, Lyds," Laura said honestly. "You can't fault them for that. Natalie's your mom and she's always gonna worry about you, no matter what, and Mom and Dad took care of you for that year and a half. Actually, they look at everyone in the pack as their children, but you are more so than the rest of them. You haven't dated anyone in a really long time, and I was trying to make them worry _less_."

"This is bad, Laura," Lydia said, starting to pace. She only paced when she was extremely agitated or was trying to figure out how to voice a thought. "I don't think you realize just how bad this is. You've given my mother something dangerous."

"And what is that, exactly?" Laura asked.

"Hope. Fuck, Laura, you've given her hope, the thought that I may start dating again. She's going to be on my case now more than ever."

"All I did was tell her that you and Derek were spending time together," Laura said.

Derek sighed, "Laura, do you realize what you've fucking done? Natalie isn't going to let this go. Not now, not ever. She's always worried about Lydia, that much is true, but now she's going to be, like...extra worried or something."

"Things are going to be fine, you guys," Laura said, looking at Lydia and then Derek. "Honestly, you're worrying over nothing."

-x-

Pack holidays were always held at the Hale house. They had a large house at the edge of the preserve and so they had the room. Most of the pack arrived early to help with the cooking. Lydia knew that Stiles got there around eight to start the turkey. Don't let his demeanor fool you - he was a kick ass chef, and sometimes Lydia thought that maybe if his career in police work didn't pan out that he should think about going to culinary school.

By the time Natalie and Lydia got there, it was almost noon. Dinner was never held until one, or two at the latest. Lydia loved going over there for the holidays, though. The pack was her family, and they had all grown up together. A lot of the time, she thought of them as more than friends, because they all had bonds that went pretty deep. Lydia went into the house this particular day looking for Derek, though.

"I can only wonder why you're looking for him," Peter said, his arm around Melissa's waist. Peter and Melissa McCall had been a thing for several years, and part of Lydia wondered why they hadn't gotten married already.

Lydia gave Peter a dirty look and then said, "Peter, if you know where he is, just tell me, okay? I don't feel like playing games with you today."

"He's in the library," Peter answered. "Seriously, Lydia, you take all the fun out of everything."

Rolling her eyes, Lydia said, "Thanks, Peter."

Derek was in the family library, a book in his lap. Even with his wolf senses, he didn't hear Lydia come up behind him until she spoke, "Hey."

"Lydia, hi," he said, snapping the book shut. "What's up?"

"Whatcha looking at?" she asked.

"Pictures. They're pictures of the family before the fire."

"Holidays are hard," Lydia said, sitting down in a chair across from Derek's. "I can't tell you how much more difficult holidays have been since my dad died."

"The rest of the family doesn't seem to understand," Derek said. "I mean, Mom gets it, but she's, like, the most logical person to understand. What really fucking bothers me is that Peter pretends like nothing's wrong, like we didn't get hit by a big ass tragedy."

"He looked pretty cozy with Melissa downstairs," Lydia commented. Derek nodded.

"Yeah, I figured as much."

"Look, Derek," Lydia said, remembering the reason that she came up to see him in the first place, "I just wanted to ask you a question. Just one question and then I'll be out of your hair."

Derek nodded, "Sure."

"Do you like me?" Lydia asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you like me?" she repeated. "Like, as a friend, or something more? I mean is there something more? I mean, is there something between us?"

"Why? Are you thinking about actually dating someone?" Derek asked. Lydia just shook her head.

"No, actually. I just...if you're in love with me or something, we really shouldn't continue this bet. I just didn't realize that you might be in that far until yesterday. When I cornered Laura and complained about what she told Talia, you didn't seem all that upset."

Derek was trying to figure out how to get out of this one. Thankfully, Lydia was not a werewolf and therefore she couldn't hear a lie. He finally just said, "Nothing like that. I want to be friends with you, Lydia. We've known each other for a long time, but we don't really _know_ one another. I'd like to fix that. But I'd like to continue this bet. I think, in the next five months, I can get you to crack."

Lydia rolled her eyes and then knelt before Derek. She watched him carefully before undoing his belt buckle.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Relax," she said as Derek lifted his hips so Lydia could get his jeans and boxers down. "You know as well as I do that your parents have practically every room in this house soundproofed, and besides that, you will hear it if anyone comes this way. But I'd really like to make you come."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea - " Derek started, but was cut off as Lydia took the head of his dick into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around the tip and then sucked it further into her mouth. She grabbed his hand and put it on her head, and he grabbed her hair and started thrusting up. Lydia moaned, her hand sneaking underneath her skirt and into panties, and she started rubbing her clit in slow circles. She took his cock as deep as it would go, relaxing as it slipped into her throat. Deep throating was something she was good at, and yeah, she flaunted it when she could. She was rubbing herself faster and faster, knowing that it was going to take practically no time at all for her to come, and she wanted Derek to come with her, so she put everything she had into the blowjob. When Derek came down her throat a minute later, he gripped her hair tightly, and Lydia's orgasm came right after.

Lydia wiped her mouth and sat back on her heels as Derek leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. After a couple of minutes, he looked at her, "Do you want me to return the favor?"

Lydia shook her head, "No, I already came, so I'm good. Besides, we can't fuck. I don't have any condoms."

"I've got some. I always carry a few with me."

"Are yours made of latex?" she asked. Derek looked at her, confused, "Yeah, why?"

"I'm allergic," she said. "There's a reason we always use mine. Believe me, it's more annoying than anything."

Derek wasn't sure what to say about that . Finally, he said, "We can still fuck. I know you probably won't agree, but I could just pull out -"

"I've slept with a lot of people, Derek," Lydia said, "and I need to continue to be safe."

"You know that werewolves can't catch or carry human diseases," Derek said. "I know you do. But if you don't want to, it's fine. I'm not going to push."

Lydia nodded, "Okay. Thank you."

He pulled his pants and boxers up and then lifted Lydia, setting her down on the desk. He nipped at her neck and then said, "Let me make you come, at least." And then he was lifting her skirt, slipping her panties off and pocketing them. He licked up her slit one, two, three times and Lydia was biting back her noises.

"None of that," he said, inserting two fingers inside of her. "As you pointed out, this room is soundproofed. I want to hear you."

As he went back to eating her out, Lydia let the noises fall from her lips. He fucked her with his fingers as his lips and teeth attacked her clit, and this time was different than the previous times they'd been together. There was something this time that felt a little more...carnal. As she felt her orgasm, she mumbled out, "Shit, Derek, gonna come. Make me come, please."

He attacked her clit a little more aggressively and then bit down. The pain molded with the pleasure and she let go. He withdrew his fingers and licked her juices off of them.

Lydia stood, straightening out her clothes. Her heart was still racing and she felt like she might faint, but was sated. Then she looked at him, "Shit, Derek."

"What?"

"I just realized I'm about to go to Thanksgiving dinner with fucking werewolves. They're gonna smell us all over each other."

Derek shrugged, "I don't think anybody's gonna say anything about it."

"By the way," she said after a moment, "You and I really ought to have a talk. I mean, why did you tell Peter about us? He's never going to let me live this down."

"Peter and I tell each other everything. You know that, and you've known that for a while. Why should this be any different?"

It was true. Derek and Peter were more like brothers than an uncle and his nephew. Peter was almost twelve years younger than Talia, and so he felt more like a child to her than a brother. It didn't help that their parents had been killed by a rogue hunter not very long after Talia turned eighteen, and so she practically raised Peter. With Talia's children growing up with Peter not that much older than them, he felt like more of a brother. When Derek's only brother died in that fire, Peter kind of became even more of a brother to Derek. They were really close now.

"I guess, it's just...how can I know I can trust him not to say anything?"

"That's not the kind of person Peter is, and you know it," Derek answered. "You know that he and I keep each other's secrets."

"I don't know," Lydia responded. "Sometimes I don't think I should trust him at all."

Derek laughed, "Yeah, he has that kind of persona. But trust me, if Peter was really that bad of a person, Melissa would have never given him a chance."

Lydia shrugged, "True, I guess."

"C'mon," Derek said after a moment. "Dinner is probably ready by now."

-x-  
The dinner was better than Lydia had thought it was going to be. Most of the werewolves knew about her bet with Derek, but Lydia was actually more worried more about Talia. After her mother's time in Eichen House, Talia's opinion started meaning a lot more to Lydia than Natalie's. Don't get her wrong - Lydia loved her mother, and respected her, and wanted her mother to approve of her choices, but Lydia also felt this need to appease her alpha. It was almost like Lydia had four parents instead of just the one.

Thankfully, if anybody noticed the scents, they didn't say anything, and Lydia was really relieved about that. There were more pressing matters, anyway.

In the middle of dinner, Peter cleared his throat and said, "There's something I want to say." He looked around nervously, which was weird - Peter Hale _never_ got nervous. At least, not since Lydia'd known him. And if he ever had gotten nervous, he never showed it. His persona was all confidence.

After taking a deep breath, Peter turned to Melissa, "Melissa, you and I have known each other a long time, and I'm incredibly happy being with you. I love you very much, and you're a wonderful person. You make me happy, and even better, you make me a better person." He got down on one knee and opened a box, "Will you do me the honor becoming my wife?"

The whole table was so silent you'd be able to hear a pin drop as Melissa's eyes got really wide and she covered her mouth with her hands in surprise. Lydia was pretty sure that she saw tears in Melissa's eyes as she removed her hands, showing off a huge grin, "Yes, Peter, yes!"

After that, Lydia didn't worry about people talking about her. Everybody was buzzing with the engagement, asking a million questions, and, even after dinner, most of them, especially Laura, Cora and Talia had talked to Melissa, talking about certain wedding things.

Lydia noticed that Malia had disappeared, so she went outside, into the woods, and found Malia by a stream of water. It was Malia's favorite spot to go and think, and she spent a lot of time there. Malia had told Lydia once that when she was a coyote, she liked to curl up there and sleep. It was peaceful to her, and that's how Lydia knew that Malia would be there.

"Hey," Lydia said softly. She watched Malia carefully as Malia wiped tears away from her eyes. "Wanna talk about it?"

Malia shook her head. "Not really," she croaked, her voice raspy from crying.

"Mia," Lydia said, sitting down on a rock beside Malia, "You can talk to me. I want to help you."

Malia sighed, resting her head on Lydia's shoulder, "Look, Lyds, I knew that Dad would move on eventually. Hell, even before he started dating Melissa, he asked me if I was okay with it. He wanted me to know that even though it had been a while since Mom and the triplets died, he was never gonna forget them. I believed him."

Lydia nodded, urging Malia to continue. Malia shifted, lying down on the ground and laying her head on Lydia's lap. Lydia started running her fingers through Malia's hair, trying to comfort her. Malia sighed and then continued, "I knew he probably would get married again eventually. And I want him to be happy, I really do. The way Dad was after the fire..." her voice trailed off. She cleared her throat, willing way the tears that were threatening to overflow, "Dad was miserable. Yeah, I was a coyote for a while, and I still feel kinda like I abandoned him when he needed me the most, but I just..." Malia sighed, trying to form the words in her mind before saying them out loud, "I want him to be happy, Lydia. I really, really do. Dad deserves some happiness, especially after this family lost so fucking much. But, somehow, I feel weird about him getting married again."

Malia sighed once more, "I like Melissa, I really do. She's been nothing but good to me, and has always treated me the way she treats Scott. That means a lot to me. But I just feel...I feel really fucking weird about this."

Lydia sighed before saying, "Your dad's always gonna love your mom, Mia. Don't ever question that. I remember after my dad died, after Mom's whole stay in Eichen House, how broken she was, but she started dating John, things changed. But Mom told me once that she really believed that you never forget the person you married after they die, especially if you loved them. Your parents were so much in love."

"I know that the fire drove Dad half insane," Malia said, rolling onto her back so she could look at Lydia, "and I know he changed after his stay in Eichen House. I know it made him better, and I know that being with Melissa changed him a lot, too. But...what if Melissa tries to take her place?" The tears started to come again, and this time, Malia just let them flow. "What if he forgets all about my mom? I mean, he never talks about her."

"Look, Mia," Lydia said, sighing, "everybody handles their grief differently. My mom almost never mentions my dad, at least most of the year. On the anniversary of his death, she and I talk about him, but that's it. But I know it's her way of dealing with what we've lost. You guys lost a lot, too, with the fire and everything, but I don't think that your dad's ever gonna forget your mom. Honestly, I think he just doesn't want people to know how much he suffered."

"But we're pack!" Malia exclaimed. "We're fucking family, and it'd be nice to know that he misses her." She sighed deeply, "Lyds, I miss her so fucking much."

They sat there for a while after Malia's exclamation, with the tears flowing down Malia's cheeks and Lydia just sitting there, stroking her hair. Lydia knew Malia quite well, and she knew that right now, Malia didn't want advice. She wanted someone to just hold her while she cried, and Lydia was more than glad to be that person.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've updated the tags and I'm super nervous about the first part of this chapter because it's the first time I've ever written a scene like this. Hopefully it's okay.

"How do you feel about bondage?"

It was the Monday after Thanksgiving break, and halfway through his last class of the day, Derek had gotten the text to come over and fuck Lydia at his earliest convenience. Seriously, that's how she had phrased it, and it had made Derek let out a laugh that made his professor pause and give him a dirty look. Harris wasn't exactly the easiest guy to get along with.

After class ended, Derek practically flew to the apartment that Lydia, Allison and Kira shared. Yeah, so maybe he was a little easy, but this was Lydia, and their fuck sessions were pretty damn hot. They hadn't fucked since their little blowjob and pussy eating thing on Thanksgiving, and he was already hard for her. He'd been needing a fix lately. It was bad, Derek knew, because he craved her like some people crave drugs, and when she decided that she didn't want to do this anymore, it would definitely be a little hard on him. The only choice Derek really had was to make Lydia feel the same way about him that he felt about her.

That question, though, seemed to be completely out of left field, and it had taken Derek entirely by surprise. He looked at her for a long moment before clearing his throat, "Uh, that depends. What kind are we talking about here?"

"Nothing too hardcore or kinky, don't worry about that." Lydia sighed, rummaging through the top drawer of her nightstand before producing a pair of handcuffs.

"Those look real," he said before he could help himself. "Where'd you get them?"

She shrugged, "Stiles."

Derek's eyes widened in surprise, "I was never aware that you two were a thing."

"We weren't," she said, without offering an explanation. She looked at him, "Anyway, like I was about to say, I want you to handcuff me to the headboard and take me apart slowly. I want you to really draw it out, make me want you. Delay the orgasm to make it so much better when I get to come - when _you_ tell me I can come."

Derek licked his lips, surprised at the last sentence. Finally, he said, "I never pegged you or the submissive type."

She shook her head, "Not usually. Every once in a while, though. In fact, I haven't done this in a really long time. I need to know that I can trust the person wholeheartedly. I never could with Aiden - I just couldn't trust him enough. But you're pack, Derek, and I've trusted you with my life more than once. I know you're not going to hurt me - if you wanted to, you've had enough chances. Tell me I can trust you with this."

Words seemed to have escaped him, so Derek just nodded.

"I need to hear you say it, Der," Lydia said softly.

Derek swallowed, "You can trust me, Lydia. I'm not gonna hurt you."

With that, Lydia handed over the handcuffs and the key. Derek set them down on the nightstand, saying, "First, stand up. I just want to look at you."

Feeling rather nervous, Lydia did as he asked. Derek licked his lips before he subtly ran his nose down her cheek, nuzzling her. She smelled so fucking good. He ran his stubble over the skin on her neck, making her groan. He kissed her lightly on the neck before wrapping his hands around her and leaving open mouthed kisses on her skin.

"Fuck, Lydia, you smell so good," he groaned. Giving her neck one last kiss, he stepped back to look at her. Flushed and sexually aroused was a good look on her.

He took off her clothes slowly, drawing it out. The scent of her arousal hung in the air and Derek loved it, loved the fact that he could do this to her. Finally, when she was naked, he said to her, "Get on the bed, Lyds."

Lydia nodded and did as he asked. "Aren't you going to take off your clothes?"

"In time," he answered. "Don't worry about that right now." He looked at her for a moment, and she could tell that he was nervous. She waited for him to speak, because she knew he was going to, "Are you one hundred percent sure you want this, Lydia? Because I swear to God that if you want to stop, I absolutely will."

Lydia laughed, "Don't worry about it, Derek. If I feel uncomfortable, I'll tell you, okay? But yes, I want this. I want you to cuff me to the bed and fuck me like you mean it."

Derek shrugged, leaning over and cuffing her into place before stepped back just to look at her.

"God, you're so fucking beautiful," he mumbled, and it brought color to her cheeks. Sure, Lydia knew that she was good looking, but not a lot of people actually told her she was beautiful. Hot and sexy, sure, but she couldn't recall the last time someone had used the word _beautiful_. "How badly do you want me, Lyds?"

"Bad, so fucking bad," she said. Slowly, Derek started taking off his clothes, watching her face. He stripped off his Henley, and the rest of his clothes followed suit, and pretty soon he was in nothing but a pair of black boxers. He licked his lips slowly, deliberately, and his eyes roamed up and down her body, looking his fill.

"I need more than that," he said, taking a finger and running it lightly down her chest and stomach. "Talk, Lydia. Tell me how I make you feel."

"Fucking Christ, Derek, you make me feel so fucking good. So different from what anybody's ever made me feel before. Everything about you is different - so different, but so fucking good." Lydia rambled on a little bit longer, but Derek wasn't really paying attention. Part of him wanted to believe that she was talking about in all aspects, aside from the sexual, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up. He _couldn't_ get his hopes up.

He sat down between her spread legs and said, "Jesus Christ, Lydia, you have no idea how good you look like this. Just tied up and waiting for me to take you." And _holy crap_ , where was all this coming from? Derek'd never really been like this in bed before, so was it just Lydia making it all come out?

Derek ran a finger up her leg, watching as she trembled from the contact. Finally, fucking _finally_ , he leaned over and took a nipple in his mouth. As he sucked on the hardened bud, Lydia groaned loudly. It felt so fucking good, and he bit it gently, taking his teeth and just nipping at it. Once he was satisfied with that, he switched and nipped at the other one.

"How's this feel, Lydia?" he asked lowly, his voice coming out in somewhat a growl. "Tell me how I make you feel."

Lydia groaned again before saying, "It feel so good, Derek. You make me feel like no one ever has. Please, I don't care about anything else, I want you to fuck me. Please, _please_ fuck me."

She sounded so needy, and the voice she used went straight to his cock. Shaking his head, he said, "Not yet. I want to taste you first."

Lydia took a deep breath as Derek situated himself and licked up her slit. Lydia groaned loudly and Derek smirked against her skin. He ate her out slowly, taking his time to really explore what made her feel good. Of course, by this stage in their relationship, he pretty much knew how to get her off, but he was finding that this time there were some other things she liked that he didn't know about. He never really would have guessed it, but this handcuffing her and talking to her thing got her so very fucking wet. He spread her lower lips with his fingers and continued to eat her out until she gasped, "Please, Derek, need you on my clit."

He obliged, taking the pink bud into his mouth and sucking on it. Lydia gasped at the feeling and said, "More, Derek. Need more, c'mon."

He inserted one finger inside of her as he took her clit in-between his teeth and bit it gently. He fucked in and out of her with his finger, and then graduated to two, which graduated to three. As he sucked on her clit and fucked her with three of his fingers, she groaned, "Shit, Der, gonna come."

"No, you're not. Not yet," he said, withdrawing his fingers and taking his mouth off of her. She let out a low growl.

"If you decide you don't want to do this anymore, Lydia, just tell me," Derek said gently. "I'm willing to do whatever is comfortable for you."

"I'm good," Lydia said. Derek nodded.

"You taste so fucking good, Lydia. Goddamn, you're fucking addicting," he said, licking her juices off his fingers. He took some more time, kissing every inch of her skin, before inserting two fingers back inside of her. He fucked them into her ruthlessly and said, "C'mon, Lyds, I want you to come for me."

"Shit," she groaned as she complied, tightening around his fingers.

"Goddamn, I can't wait to feel that on my cock," he groaned, withdrawing his fingers from inside of her. "It's gonna feel so good, you're going to feel so fucking amazing around me." He was giving Lydia a couple of minutes to catch her breath, so he said, "Where're your condoms?"

She nodded towards the nightstand, "First drawer." Derek got one out and threw it on the pillow next to her and then took his boxers off. He knelt by her head and said, "I want you to suck my cock."

Lydia groaned as she could feel herself start to get wet again. "Come closer," she said, turning her head. She had never actually given a blowjob in this position before, so it would be a new experience, and she felt a little limited being tied up the way she was, but did the best she could. As she licked a stripe up the underside, Derek groaned and grabbed her head. "This okay? I mean, can I fuck your mouth?" he asked.

"Yeah. 's fine," she answered before putting her mouth back on him. He fucked into her mouth a couple of times before saying, "I'm not going to come yet. I want to be inside you before that happens. But suck my cock, baby. You're so fucking good at it."

She never realized that his talking would be such a turn on for her, but she was just going to roll with it. She relaxed her mouth as he slipped into her throat. She tried to hum around him the best she could, and before she even really knew what was happening, he withdrew himself from her mouth.

He was breathing heavily as he put the condom on; Lydia riled him up way more than anybody ever had, so he was shaking a little. He thrust into her in one thrust, and when he bottomed out, Lydia groaned, "So good, Der. You feel fucking fantastic inside of me. Now, move."

He did as she asked, setting a somewhat slower pace than normal.

"Faster," she said, but he just shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "We're doing this the way I want to do it, and that's slow and deep." He fucked her slowly, kissing her neck and chest and any other skin he could reach. Lydia was trying to move her hips so he'd fuck into her harder and faster, and he grabbed her hair and pulled. As she groaned, he repeated, "We're doing this the way I want to, Lyds. Who's in charge here?"

"You are," she mumbled out.

"So let me do this," he said. "I'm gonna make you come so hard, baby, but good things happen to those who wait."

"Don't wanna wait," she grumbled, but he pretended not to hear it.

He decided to give in and move a little faster. This went on for a little while, but Lydia was getting frustrated. She was on the edge of tears, "C'mon, Derek," she begged. "I need this. I'm so fucking close. Please, please fuck me harder. I need just a little more."

He obliged, fucking into her hard and fast, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "It's okay, Lydia. C'mon, let go. I wanna feel you come around me."

This was enough to send her over the edge. She cried out in relief as she came around him. He followed not long after, exploding into the condom, and almost fell down on top of her afterwards. He caught himself, rolling over and just lying beside her for a long minute.

Once his heartbeat had slowed down a little, he pulled off condom and tied it off, throwing it in the trash can that Lydia kept beside her nightstand. He leaned over her and got the key to the handcuffs, taking them off her. She rubbed her wrists before saying, "Thanks, Derek."

"What even brought that on?" he asked. He rolled over so he was lying on his side, facing her.

She shrugged, "Had a bad day. People are stupid. Especially those people who think they know everything."

He snickered, "Like you."

That may have annoyed her a month ago, but this time, Lydia did her best to give him a fake glare and then burst out laughing. "There's a difference. I actually know things. These people, though, they just _think_ that they do."

"So is this about control?" he asked, trying to understand what was going on in her head.

Lydia shook her head, "Not really. I'm not into BDSM, not really. Just sometimes I like being tied up like that. I just felt like doing this. Like I said, I can't do this with just anyone. I haven't been able to do it in a really long time. I need to know I can trust them, and believe it or not, there aren't a whole lot of guys that I can trust like that."

"But me?" he asked, feeling a little proud that she knew she could trust him like that. 

"You're different. We're pack. And I know that I don't always exactly like you, and you don't always exactly like me, but there've been times when you've saved my life. If you wanted me dead, I would've been a long time ago. You're pack, and I know that I can trust you. There's no question about it."

"It actually feels really good to hear you say that," Derek said softly. Lydia looked over at him and smiled. It wasn't one of those fake smiles that she used to give Aiden, either, Derek noted; this smile was genuine and he was going to savor that in his memory for as long as he could.

-x-

Lydia was in her Probability and Statistics class that Friday, the last class of the day, when she got the call. Whenever Lydia was in class, she always turned her phone on vibrate, just in case of an emergency, but never answered it. So she let it go to voice mail. Then she got the text. _This is John. I need to talk to you. It's about your mother. Call me as soon as you can._

Knowing that the sheriff would only contact her about her mother if it was urgent, Lydia told the professor that she had a family emergency and she needed to go. He gave her the homework and the obligatory _I hope everything's okay/Let me know if you need anything_ speech that the teachers seemed to say whenever they couldn't think of anything else, and she left. She went out into her car and called John, fingers shaking so badly she wasn't even sure if she could dial.

"What's wrong with her?" Lydia asked when he answered the phone. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was worried. 

"It's a relapse. The depression, it's back, and...fuck, Lydia, it's worse than ever. She's at the hospital right now, they gave her a shot of Thorazine and she's down for the count."

"John, it's been six years since Dad died," Lydia said. "What set it off this time?"

John cleared his throat uneasily and said, "I, uh...we were talking about a future together. I asked her if she'd ever want to get married again." Lydia made a sound that John took for disapproval, so he continued, "It probably wasn't the brightest question to ask, but hey, Peter and Mel just got engaged after seven years of dating, and...I just need to know."

"Don't worry about it," Lydia said. "Are they talking about moving her?"

"The psych ward at the main hospital is only for short term care, but they'll keep her up to ten days. Right now, she really needs you. I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to come home for a little while."

Lydia nodded, even though she knew John couldn't see her, "Yeah, okay. Uh...I can be on my way in about an hour."

"Hey, Lyds?" John said, sounding like an afterthought. "Don't come alone, okay? Bring someone with you. I don't care if it's Stiles, or Allison, or even Scott or one of the Hales, but just bring someone. I don't want you to be alone right now."

"I'm fine," Lydia said. "I'm not going to have a breakdown."

"I know how much your mom means to you," he said, sounding tired. "But just...do this one thing for me, okay?"

That was how, fifteen minutes later, she found herself pacing in front of the Hales' doorstep. She could've gone to Stiles first; hell, she could have gone to any other person first, but her first instinct was to go and see Derek.

Why, though? She and Derek weren't friends. They were fucking - and that was it. Why would she ask him to accompany her to Beacon Hills? Besides, he was taking a full load this semester and needed to be at class, and was only a couple of years away from his degree, and -

Her thought halted when Derek opened the front door, shirtless and sweat glistening on his body. She must've interrupted his workout, which was weird, since it was almost four in the afternoon, but Lydia didn't dwell on that too much. Derek looked at her for a long minute before saying, "What's wrong?"

"Is Cora, Laura or Malia here?" she asked. She had come to see Derek, true, but _he_ didn't need to know that. She was really close to Cora, Laura and Malia, so people would expect her to come here to see them.

"Nope. Stiles, work and class," he said. "Do you wanna tell me what's going on?"

Lydia licked her lips absentmindedly before saying, "My mom had a relapse. I've gotta get to Beacon Hills, but the sheriff doesn't want me to come alone. I'm going to have to be there for about a week and I don't know who to ask -"

"Lyds," Derek said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Are you trying to find out if my sisters or cousin will go home with you?"

"Actually," Lydia said, licking her lips one more time, "I was hoping you would."

-x-

Derek was confused. He wasn't sure why Lydia would ask this of him. Of course he was going to do it; Lydia was pack, and he was willing to do anything she asked of him, within reason, of course. All he knew when he answered the door was that his mate was freaking out and he needed to do something - anything - to make it stop. She smelt of fear and anxiety, and he knew right away that something wasn't right.

When Lydia asked him if he'd go to Beacon Hills with her, he was in his email in a flash. He sent emails to all his professors and was thankful that he didn't even have to start practicing for baseball until the middle of February. Sure, he did weight training and everything during the winter, but he didn't have to stay at Berkeley for that - there was a pretty sophisticated gym in the Hale house that Peter had pestered Talia about until she gave in. Derek packed a bag of clothes and grabbed his laptop, and took Lydia over to her apartment to get her things.

Lydia had wanted to drive her car home, and have Derek drive his, but he vetoed the idea right away. "If my mom found out that I made you drive your car all the way home by yourself at a time like this, she'd skin me alive," Derek had said. "Then, she'd wait for me to heal and do it again just so she knew the message sunk in."

Lydia laughed nervously, but Derek knew that she was concerned. After Richard Martin died when Lydia was sixteen, Natalie was all that she had left, and she tried to take better care of her mother. Like Stiles was on his dad's case about eating better, Lydia was on Natalie's about taking her anti-depressants and making sure she got enough positive things in her life. Lydia was a lot like Stiles in one respect - when faced with something new that she didn't understand, she researched the hell out of it. When Natalie was diagnosed with depression and had to spend a year and a half in Eichen House, Lydia spent a lot of sleepless nights researching what she could do for her mother. Hell, both Lydia _and_ Stiles had spent sleepless nights fueled with Red Bull and Wikipedia.

The fear and anxiety was coming off Lydia in waves, and Derek could practically taste the tang of it, so glancing over at her for about a second, he grabbed one of her hands with one of his. He rubbed his thumb over hers and said, "It's gonna be okay, Lydia. We're not going to make you deal with this by yourself, you know. We're going to be there for you."

"It's not exactly like that," Lydia said. "I haven't seen Mom like this in years, really, and all it took was John talking to her about her future. I know she quit seeing that therapist I wanted her to see and she did really great for a while, but I'm always going to worry about her. I mean, Dad's death hit me pretty hard, yes, but it hit her even harder. But I know that John wants to settle down with Mom, and I'm ecstatic about that, really - after everything they both have been through, they deserve some happiness. But, Derek, I don't know what to do or what to think. I have to be strong for her, but sometimes, I...sometimes I can't even be strong for myself."

"When you can't be strong, that's what you've got pack for, Lydia," Derek answered honestly. "We're there for each other. And I'm always going to be here when you need me. I'm not going anywhere."

"I have to be strong, though, Derek. I can't always depend on other people."

"I know that," Derek said. "But I also know that you're not meant to keep everything inside. If you need help, you need to ask - that's what pack does. I know it's somewhat a foreign concept to you, since you weren't brought into the whole pack dynamic until you were fifteen, but Lydia, I grew up with it. The alpha's job is to take care of her pack, and the pack leans on each other. We're like a family, and we've always been like that. You leaned on us when Natalie was in Eichen House, remember?"

"I was sixteen and a minor," Lydia answered. "I couldn't take care of myself and I literally had nowhere else to turn."

"You know that Chris, John, or even Melissa would have taken you in in a heartbeat," Derek said. "Think about it, Lydia. We've all grown really close, and as much as I want to hate Chris Argent because of his hunting my kind, I can't. We take care of each other. And if you tried to deal with this alone, it would really hurt my mom."

"Talia?" Lydia asked, and Derek just gave her a _duh_ expression. "Why?"

"She thinks of all you guys as her children, in a way. Kind of like an extended family, really. She loves you all, and since taking care of you like she did for that year and a half, you're more her child than most. You're a smart girl, Lydia, and I know you all of this without me having to tell you. Why don't you think you deserve help?"

"I'm just worried about my mom, Derek," Lydia answered. "I'm not making a hell of a lot of sense right now, I know."

When they got to Beacon Hills and to the hospital, Lydia talked to Melissa at the front desk for a minute, trying to get an update on her mom.

"She's still sleeping it off," Melissa said. "She had a minor psychotic episode and...well, it was more like a crying episode. She was brought here because she couldn't handle herself and she had a knife, Lydia. We were pretty sure that she was going to hurt either herself or someone else, and you know that's when we have to act."

Lydia nodded, "So what now? I mean, therapy, anger management classes, what?"

"They're gonna want to keep her here for at least a couple of days, but it's not going to be like the last time she was admitted. I honestly don't think it's bad enough that they're going to send her to Eichen House. She just needs to learn coping abilities. I mean, it's been six years since the last time, and I think she just needs to brush up. There's a really great partial program here at the hospital, kinda like being hospitalized without being hospitalized. It's a program that runs from eight AM to four PM, they serve lunch there, and they have group therapy and teach you about triggers and how to avoid them. I really think that you should suggest it to her."

"I have no say in this, and you know that, Mel," Lydia said. "They're gonna keep her here as long as they want to, and they're going to tell her what she needs to do, because they can get a court order if they want."

"I know, but it'll run so much more smoothly if she cooperates. You should talk to her about that, for her sake."


	8. Chapter 8

Lydia spent most of the day in her mother's hospital room, just watching her. They were going to let her sleep off the sedative before they transferred her over to the psych ward, and Lydia wanted to spend as much time with her mother that she could until her mom was moved. After Natalie woke up, Lydia talked to her for about twenty minutes before she had to leave. 

"Mom, I need you to cooperate with them," Lydia said. "I need you to get better."

"I'm not sick, Lydia," her mom said.

"I know that things are hard right now, and you've relapsed, but I need to know that you're making an effort. What set this off, anyway?"

"John wants a life with me, Lyds, with _us_. I don't deserve a life."

"Why not?"

"'Cause your dad doesn't get one."

"Dad's dead, Mom, and he has been for a while. You don't need to feel guilty about moving on with your life - you and I both know that that's what Dad would've wanted. You were the love of his life and he'd want you to be happy."

"Exactly!" Natalie exclaimed. "He was the love of my life, too, Lydia. How could I have moved on? I can't be with John like that, I never should have to begin with."

"John loves you," Lydia said. Her mother watched her with tears in eyes and Lydia continued, "He loves you, and of course he would want something more with you. Aren't you happy with him? I mean, does he make you happy?"

"Of course he does," Natalie answered.

"That's it, then," Lydia said. "You feel guilty because you're living while Dad isn't. Well, news flash, Mom - Dad's death was _not_ your fault. I know that you were supposed to be in New York with him at the time, but I'm grateful that you had the flu. You know why? Because that way I only lost the one parent instead of losing you both." Sighing, Lydia stood up, "I need you to get better, Mom. We're all each other have."

-x-

Lydia had no interest in going to her mother's house since she was going to be the only one in it, and Talia had an open door policy. They were always welcome to stay there, they always had been. Lydia was planning on staying at the Hales' until she absolutely had to go home. And since Derek hadn't let Lydia drive her car, she was in the middle of trying to get him to lend her the Camaro.

"Nobody drives this car but me, Lydia," he said, putting his foot down.

"Yeah, I know, but you didn't let me drive mine. I have something I've gotta do."

"And what's that?"

Lydia sighed and rolled her eyes, "Jesus, Derek, nosy much? It's just something I've gotta do."

Derek watched her for a long minute before making a face and then saying, "Fine. You can drive it." He got up off the couch and handed her the keys. "Count yourself lucky, Lydia. Nobody drives the Camaro but me."

Lydia smiled at him, "Thank you, Derek. I really appreciate this."

What she hadn't wanted to tell him was that Lydia wanted to go to the cemetery. She was sure that Derek would have accompanied her if she had wanted him to, but she wanted to do this alone. She sat down beside her dad's gravestone and said, "Hey, Dad. I haven't been here in a while. Sorry about that."

She started talking to him. After her father had died, Lydia came to the cemetery almost weekly. It was every Sunday, since they had had a tradition of having a family dinner every Sunday afternoon. For a long time, she would avoid everyone on Sundays. That's why she started visiting her dad's grave. But life got busy, and things got in the way, and pretty soon she was on her way to Berkeley and didn't really think about visiting his grave like she had before. She still missed him a ton, but things were different now.

"I guess I'm a bad daughter, huh?" Lydia laughed. "I miss you, though. I think about you all the time. I know Mom does, too." She sighed before saying, "That's why I'm here. Mom is...well, she's Mom. She and the sheriff have been dating a while. Can you believe it? Both she and John were lonely, and it really helped them to be lonely together, I guess. They were really happy."

Lydia licked her lips before continuing, "He wants to marry her. That really shouldn't surprise you, huh? Mom is totally marriage material. But she's in the hospital right now because it sent her into a deep depression. She's depressed, and I don't know what to do about it. I know I dealt with it after you died, but this is different. The main reason I even starting going to Berkeley was so I could keep an eye on her. I come home to see her at least once a month. It's just..." Lydia sighed. "I feel like I need to help her. She's my mother, you know? Of course I'm going to worry about her, but I kinda feel like I'm about to go out of my freaking mind. I don't really know what to do about it."

"You need to let your pack help you out," came the voice. Lydia sighed; she should've known that Derek would have followed her here. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and said, "Derek, I'm not in the fucking mood."

There was silence, but Lydia was really surprised when she turned around and standing there was...Talia?

"Derek, huh?" she said. "Do I sound like Derek?"

"No, sorry," she said. Talia came around and knelt beside Lydia. "It was like murder trying to get Derek to let me borrow the Camaro. I figured he followed me, to see where I was going."

Talia's eyes widened, "You mean, you actually asked? I was under the impression that you just took it."

"Did he tell you that?"

Talia laughed, "No. He didn't. It's just that, since he got that car, he's never let anybody borrow it, not _ever_." Talia watched Lydia very carefully before adding, "John called me about your mom. When Derek told me you went somewhere, I figured it'd be here. He doesn't really remember, but you and Richard were close. I know you miss him."

Lydia nodded, "I do, you're right." 

Talia just looked at Lydia, "I also know that you researched the hell out depression after your mom went into the hospital the first time. There's nothing you can do right now except support her."

"I always am gonna," Lydia said, sighing. She stood up and brushed the grass off her skirt. "I just...I feel like I'm all alone."

Talia rose beside Lydia and took her hand in her own. She said, "Look at me, Lydia." Lydia did as she asked. Talia said, "Pack takes care of each other. I know that you and Derek have...issues, but it seems like the two of you are getting along lately. Why did you ask him to come with you, exactly?"

Lydia sighed, "I don't know. Derek and I have been getting to know one another, and it...I guess it just seemed logical to me to ask him. I know it's probably strange, but...I don't really know why I asked him. I just know I can trust him."

Talia sighed, watching Lydia for a moment, "Derek's turned into a good man. I'm very proud to call him my son. And maybe someday, Lydia, you'll be able to trust him with more - like your heart."

-x-

Lydia couldn't sleep. After tossing and turning for almost three hours, she got up and went downstairs into the kitchen. She was trying to be as quiet as she could, because she didn't want to wake anybody up. With practically the whole family being werewolves, she knew that even if she tried not to make noise, she was going to make some anyway. Their senses were heightened, and Talia had told Lydia once that because she was a mother first and an alpha second, she was an extremely light sleeper.

Lydia went into the kitchen pantry where Peter kept his tea. That was practically the only thing they had in common - Peter liked his tea, and Lydia needed it when she couldn't sleep. Insomnia was a bitch, but this wasn't just regular insomnia - it was because she was worried. She filled the tea kettle and put it on the stove to boil some water, and sat down on the barstool at the kitchen island. She sighed deeply.

"Hey," came the voice. Lydia turned and saw it was Derek. "Can't sleep?" He came over and sat on the other barstool beside Lydia. He looked completely adorable, in nothing but a pair of sleep pants and his hair sticking up in every which way. Wait...did she just call him adorable? Well, everybody knew that he was hot, but she somehow knew it meant different. She shook the thoughts out of her head just as the tea kettle started to whistle.

She got up and poured it into a mug along with the teabag. Sitting back down beside Derek, she sighed and said, "I should have asked if you wanted some."

Derek made a face, which made Lydia laugh, "It's okay," he said. "You and Peter can keep your gross tea. Honestly, I have no idea how the two of you stomach that shit."

Lydia laughed again, "It helps," she said. "Lavender and chamomile helps insomnia, you know."

Derek just shrugged.

Lydia took a sip of her tea and said, "You don't have to sit up with me, Derek. I'm okay with being alone."

"You shouldn't have to be, though," Derek said. He watched as Lydia sipped her tea. "Please don't push me away, Lyds. I wanna help you."

Lydia finished her tea and said, "You know what would help?" She really didn't give him to respond, she just started rubbing him through his pants.

He gently removed her hand, "No, Lydia. Not that."

She almost looked hurt, "It would make me feel better. I just want to forget for a while."

"I'm not going to take advantage of you like that."

"But I want you to!" she exclaimed. She stood up and so did Derek. "I need to stop thinking for a while. Don't you think you can help me with that, please? I mean, I'm not too proud to beg."

Derek shook his head, "I'm not changing my mind, Lydia."

Tears started flowing down her cheeks. Why the fuck was she being so goddamn emotional about this? She hit his chest, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to make herself feel better. Derek gathered her in his arms and whispered to her, "Let it out, Lydia. You need this."

Her legs felt like jelly and he picked her up and carried her into the living room. He sat down on the couch and cradled her in his arms, saying, "Let it out, Lydia. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." He continued to whisper comforting words in her ear as she just cried. She grabbed onto his shirt and just let everything she'd been feeling out. Derek stroked his hand through her hair and whispered comforting words to her.

He sat there for a long time, comforting her, but she fell asleep after about an hour. Her head was on Derek's lap and he sighed. He had this overwhelming need to protect her. All he could think about was that his mate was upset and he needed to fix it. He knew the probably should have just had sex with her, but he didn't want her to sleep with him out of grief. She needed to be comforted, and by God, he was going to do that. He didn't even care that she had gotten tears and snot all over him. Part of him really wanted to tell her that she was his mate , but he just couldn't bring himself to do it - at least, not yet.

The next thing he knew, the sun was shining through the curtains and his mother was standing over him. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked down to see that Lydia was still sleeping on his lap. Talia gave him a knowing look.

"It's not like that," he whispered. He didn't want to wake Lydia; he knew that she wouldn't be getting a lot of good sleep right now, so he wanted her to sleep as long as she could. He shifted so she was lying on the couch and he could stand. He covered her with the quilt that Talia kept on the back of the couch and motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. He was extra surprised, though, to see Cora and Stiles sitting at the kitchen island.

"What're you guys doing here?" he asked.

Stiles, who had half a pancake in his mouth, replied, "Your mom called us."

Derek looked at Talia quizzically. She nodded, "I thought it'd help. I mean, Stiles and Cora are Lydia's best friends."

"I'm kinda hurt," Stiles said after swallowing. " I mean, she used to come to me first."

Derek nodded, "I'm just as surprised as you are. But she asked me, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to help her out. Besides, she said she'd be here about a week and didn't want you to miss classes."

"But she asked you?"

Derek shrugged, "Look, I don't know, okay?"

Cora watched her brother carefully, "Where is she right now?"

"On the couch," Talia answered, watching her son. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

"She was exhausted, okay? She was up in the middle of the night, and she started crying. I held her and then she fell asleep. I know that she's going to have a hard time sleeping, and I want her to be able to get as much sleep as humanly possible."

"That's it? You just held her? Lydia doesn't let anyone just hold her." Stiles said, watching Derek carefully.

"Well, she did, okay? I didn't really give her much of a choice. Besides, I know that you and Cora cuddle with her all the time. Cora used to come home smelling like both you _and_ Lydia all the time."

"Yeah, but we're her best friends. She barely even tolerates you."

Derek sighed. Stiles was right, even though his words stung. He took a deep breath, "Look, I don't know what else to say, okay? She needed someone, and I was there. That's it."

When they didn't respond, Derek started to turn around. He turned back for a moment and said, "I'm going to put her to bed in the spare room. Is that okay with everyone?" They didn't answer her, and he smelt the bitterness of guilt, so he turned around and picked Lydia up, bridal style, and carried her to the guest room. He covered her up with the comforter there and lingered for just a moment, watching her. She was absolutely beautiful when she slept.

Feeling too much like a stalker, he turned around and left the room. He wasn't expecting to run into Stiles in the hallway.

"There's something you need to understand, Derek," Stiles said softly, closing the bedroom door so they wouldn't disturb Lydia. "Before this bet, she hated your guts. The two of you never talked to each other, and you avoided her like the plague. Now you're sleeping together and things are changing. I don't think that Lydia knows what she's feeling, and she hasn't exactly done this feeling thing in a really long time."

Derek was silent, so Stiles said, "Cora and I have been best friends with Lydia for a long time. Everyone in the pack is closer to Lydia than you are, but I know that you feel something for her. Lydia told me about the terms of the bet and what you get if you win. I, for one, would love to see you win. Lydia had lost faith in love a long ass time ago and we have that douche Jackson Whittemore to thank for it. You're a good guy. But you're an idiot."

"Really." Derek said. It was a statement, not a question. "Please, enlighten me."

"Sure," Stiles said, not picking up on the sarcasm in Derek's voice. Derek decided to just let him talk. "Mia told me that Lydia's your mate. Even if she hadn't told me, though, I would have guessed, considering the way you look at her. You look at Lydia like she hung the fucking moon and I know you want to be with her, as in a real relationship. I want that for you. I think Lydia's forgotten what it felt like to be in love."

Derek was quiet, so Stiles said, "I want you to win this bet, Der, I really do. It'd be good for the both of you. But, and I'm begging you here, please tell her she's your mate. She deserves to know." With that, Stiles walked away, leaving Derek to his thoughts.

-x-

Visitations to the psych ward were weekdays at seven and weekends at four. Lydia went there the first day alone to talk to Natlaie. She sat down across the table from her mother and watched her for a good minute.

"You look better today than you did yesterday," Lydia said to her mother. Natalie just watched her.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, Mom, but you've got a problem and you need to address it. You need John and he needs you."

Natalie was still silent.

"Look, I'd really like it if you'd say something to me. Just acknowledge my presence, okay? I don't even care if it's 'I hate you, Lydia, never come to see me again', I just need to make sure you're, you know, here."

"I'm here," Natalie said softly. "They're scheduling me appointments with a shrink."

"Mom, you need a therapist. I've told you this repeatedly."

"I was doing fine, Lydia."

Lydia sighed, "That's why the police were called because you were holding a knife at your skin. You didn't cut yourself, but you could've. You'd scared a lot of people shitless. That's why you're here. We're all worried about you."

"I was doing fine," Natalie repeated.

"Jesus Christ," Lydia muttered. Sighing, she said, "I'm staying in Beacon Hills until you get out of the hospital. And if you don't cooperate and get better in ten days, they're gonna send you back to Eichen House. You know that, right? I know you don't want to go there again."

"I don't know what I'm doing, Lydia," Natalie admitted. "Your dad's been gone a long time, yes, but I just can't seem to think about moving on without him. Yeah, so John and I have gone on dates and everything, but he's talking about marriage. He wants to marry me, Lyds."

"Please tell me he didn't propose already," Lydia said.

"He didn't. He just wanted to talk to me about it." There were tears in her mother's eyes. "I don't know what to do. I love him, you know that. I mean, I'm in love with him, and I feel like he deserves so much more than that. When your dad died, I was in hospital for a year and a half, okay? How could he want someone like that?"

"Do you remember when his wife died?" Lydia asked quietly. Natalie shook her head, so Lydia continued, "He drowned himself in the bottle. He drank all the time. It was his only way of coping. Have you ever wondered why Stiles is so good at taking care of himself? How he got to be so good at preparing his meals and grocery shopping and everything that he does? It's because he was forced into it too early. I'm not trying to turn you off from the sheriff. God knows that the two of you need each other. But everybody handles grief differently. And I can't even imagine the kind of hurt you guys went through when your spouses died. It's got to hurt in a way that I can't even comprehend. But you guys got better, and I think the two of you could move on to be very happy together." Licking her lips and watching her mother very closely, Lydia said, "Please, Mom, talk to the therapist. I even see one, okay? It'll be good for you."

"You see a shrink?" Natalie asked.

"Please, don't say it like that. But yes, I've been seeing one for a while. It helps. She helps me deal with the grief that is inside of me from everything that's happened in my life, including Dad. I know that you and Dad loved each other very much, but think about it. And I mean that - really think about it. He'd want you to be happy. Dad would've wanted you to move on, and that's what I want, too. Please, just try to get better, okay? You're my mom and I need you more than you think I do."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, you guys! I'm actually really floored by the response this story has gotten. I've never had a story that had such a response before, which is completely amazing. I'm also sorry it's taken me so freaking long to update this, but I've seriously been lacking. I'm hoping to make it up to you guys, but I don't know when the next time I'll be able to update is. But until then, enjoy the chapter!

The next day, Lydia didn't want to get out of bed, but she had a Skype conference scheduled with several of her teachers. They wanted to know how long she was going to be gone and how she was going to make up her work. That was scheduled for eleven, and at noon, she was back in bed. Her sleep schedule had been crap the last couple of days. She had been too worried about her mother to be able to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she was lying there when the door to the spare room opened.

"Hey, Lyds, you up?" It was just Stiles. He climbed into bed with her and just laid there for a moment. He cuddled up to her and said, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," she mumbled into her pillow. "Just wanna sleep."

"Lyds, it's been a while. It's almost three o'clock now and you've been up here all day. Have you done anything productive?"

"Talked to the rep," Lydia said. "Teachers are willing to accept any homework I email to them and I can take the tests right on the university server. My grades are not going to suffer because of this."

"I'm more worried about Lydia," he said gently. "Even Talia is worried about you. You've barricaded yourself up here. Are you dealing with a depression of your own?"

"I like him, Stiles," Lydia whispered. There was a silence, so she turned so she was facing him, "Goddamn it, Stiles, I like Derek."

"Like him?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Not love, but I like him as a person. When your dad asked me to bring someone, Derek was the first guy to pop into my head. I mean, yeah, we're fucking, but I...I think I could love him someday."

"Is that bad?"

"He held me the other night, Stiles. He actually held me while I cried and I fell asleep on him. I haven't let anybody hold me that wasn't you or Cora in a very long fucking time."

"That doesn't have to be a bad thing, Lyds."

"It is, though, Stiles. It's a very bad fucking thing!" she exclaimed. "I can't afford to like anyone. I don't want to get roped into another relationship. I've sworn off dating, remember?"

"Derek could be good for you, Lyds -" Stiles started, but Lydia just huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes.

"Don't give me that _love helps all_ speech that you give everyone else, Stiles. I know better than that."

"I really do believe it, Lyds. You and Derek could be so good together."

Lydia sighed, "Look, Stiles, he bet me this to prove a point. He wanted to prove that even I could fall in love. I can't give him the satisfaction of winning this thing."

"Lyds," Stiles said, sighing, "do you honestly think that he wants to just win this thing? I mean, do you think that's why he proposed the bet to begin with?"

"Of course," Lydia said. "I mean, why else? He even told me that he wanted me to be his girlfriend because knowing that I couldn't get off with anyone else would just humiliate me. He's right, too, you know. Even now, I can't really see myself fucking anybody else. I just...I need to break this off, Stiles. It's only been two months and I can already tell that if I spend too much more time with him, I'll be eating out of the palm of his hand."

Stiles wanted so badly to tell her that Derek wouldn't do anything to hurt her; she was his goddamn _mate_ after all, and that was a huge deal. Talia had told Stiles once (when Cora had revealed to him that he was _her_ mate and he went to Talia about it) that not every werewolf found their mate, so it was kind of a big deal when they did find them. It was the equivalent of a human soul mate and some people could go a lifetime without knowing who their mate was. So it was a huge fucking deal that Lydia Martin just _happened_ to be Derek Hale's mate, and he wasn't telling her. But Stiles knew that Derek _had_ to be the one to tell her; she wouldn't believe it if anyone else told her, and as much as he wanted to, he wasn't going to risk having Derek be pissed at him for something as sensitive as this.

"Look, Lyds," Stiles said after chewing words over in his head until they resembled whatever it was that he was feeling, "I know you think that he doesn't care about you, and that he's only using you, but you need to talk to Derek before you make any rash decisions. Just promise me that."

Lydia looked a little confused, but nodded, "Sure, Stiles, I promise."

-x-

"I don't know what to do about them, Cor," Stiles said, pacing back and forth across the floor in the rec room. "I mean, can you believe that she actually thinks that? She thinks that Derek would actually do that."

"Stiles," Cora said from her place on the couch where she was watching her boyfriend intently, "Come sit down next to me." Her voice was soft, which was totally unlike Cora, but Stiles did as she asked. Cora picked up his hand and interlaced their fingers. She took a deep breath before saying, "Stiles, Lydia doesn't know Derek like you and I do. Derek's never been very open and honest with her about...well, about anything. I think he's afraid to tell her."

"Why?"

"Stiles, use that big brain of yours," Cora said. She took a deep breath, "Lydia hasn't dated a single person since she called off that threesome thing she was doing with Allison and Isaac, and that was senior year, right? That was almost four years ago. She hasn't dated one single person since then. So think about it; why _wouldn't_ Derek want Lydia to know about it? Other than the fact that she's likely to trample across his heart in her four inch heels?"

"She would never do that," Stiles said.

"Lydia's our best friend," Cora said, watching Stiles carefully. "We've known her for a long time and we love her. And even though you and I know Lydia inside and out, Derek doesn't. He has no idea what goes through her head on an average day, and he's terrified to tell her. He knows that Lydia doesn't date."

"I just feel so helpless, Cor," Stiles said, putting his head on her shoulder. She dropped a kiss on his forehead and sighed softly.

"I know, Stiles," Cora said. "It seems like this is a huge fucking mess, but things will sort themselves out eventually. They always do."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Stiles asked.

"Easy. We just let things work themselves out. We can't interfere, at least not right now."

"I don't know about that, Cora," Stiles sighed. "I worry about her. Lydia is practically the sister I never had, you know."

"I know," Cora said, thankful that she had an abundance of patience. She never would have been able to deal with Stiles otherwise. "I know how close you and Lydia have gotten, especially since your parents are dating. But sometimes you've gotta just let things work themselves out. You can't force these things."

Stiles sighed, "I guess you're right. I just...I want to help."

"Sometimes the most you can do is nothing at all."

-x-

Today was the day, Derek had decided. Today was finally the day that Derek was going to tell Lydia that she was his mate. He knew he had to do it sooner rather than later, but he was procrastinating about it, because, let's face it - he and Lydia were _just_ beginning to become friends, and he didn't want to put any pressure on her shoulders. Lydia always carried the weight of the world, it's true, but Derek was afraid that she would stress over this, and right now was not a very good time for Lydia to be stressing. She was really worried about her mom, and Derek didn't want to add to that. But he had to tell her eventually, and was worried what she would think if he didn't tell her. 

All of his thoughts were catapulted out of his head, however, when Lydia marched up to where he had been standing in the hallway, grabbed a hold of his shirt collar, pushed him up against the wall, and whispered huskily in his ear, "Your bedroom. Now. I want you to fuck me until I scream."

Derek didn't have to think twice about that. He noticed that Lydia was being a little more...aggressive today that she normally was, but Derek chalked that up to her mom being in the hospital and the stress that she must have on her at that moment. Grabbing her hand, he led her into his bedroom.

Once inside, Lydia closed the door and locked it for good measure. It was true that Talia had most of the rooms in the house soundproofed, but that only helped when the door was closed. She didn't want anybody barging in on them. Afterwards, she gave him a contemplative look before sliding to her knees and started on his belt buckle.

"I thought you wanted me to fuck you," Derek said, slightly confused. Lydia smirked at him.

"I do, but first, I wanna taste you. I don't do this as often as I would like to." Unzipping his jeans, she reached her small hand into his boxers and pulled out his dick. Licking her lips, she glanced up at him before putting her mouth on him.

Lydia usually started slow, but this time, she was just going for it. She took him deep into her mouth as she started to hum around him. She hadn't been blowing him for more than two minutes and Derek was already starting to get really close. She let him go with a soft _pop_ and watched his face closely, before smirking and licking a stripe up the underside. She took him deep in her mouth again, relaxing so he slipped into her throat. It was then that he did something that he had never done before - he gathered up her hair and held it. He didn't force her down further, he just held her hair there. He licked his lips, watching the erotic picture that she made, and groaned. She relaxed her mouth and he slipped into her throat, and _god fucking damn_ , it felt so good.

"Fuck, Lyds," Derek groaned out, "you feel so fucking good. So hot, so wet...shit, I'm gonna come."

Lydia pulled off, "How do you wanna come, Der?"

"Inside you," Derek groaned out. "I don't wanna come until after you do."

Nodding, Lydia helped Derek out of the rest of his clothes before shedding hers. Once they were naked, she reached into the pocket of her jean skirt, where she produced a condom. She handed it to him and said, "I wanna ride you."

He groaned at the images that flooded his brain, and sat down, back against the headboard. Licking her lips, Lydia took the condom that was still in his hand and rolled it on him. She watched his face intently as she rolled it onto his length. Lydia groaned as she lowered herself down onto him.

The pace she set was rough and fast. She slammed down onto him and groaned as she did so. She grabbed his hand and put it on her breast, making him squeeze her roughly. He got her message and continued to do so, even after she removed her hand from his. Derek's mouth went to Lydia's neck, nipping and licking at the skin there. He wanted badly to kiss her, but knew that would have to come later.

Derek wanted to feel her come around him, so he reached down and started rubbing her clit in slow circles. It felt wonderful and Lydia knew that she was going to come in absolutely no time at all. She groaned loudly and, surprising herself, she started to beg.

"I just need a little bit more, Der," Lydia said, groaning. "Just a bit. C'mon, please let me come. Please, please make me come." And that's when he pinched her clit roughly and felt her come around him with a scream. He followed not long after, letting out a deep groan as he filled the condom.

Afterwards, Lydia just sat there, his dick still inside her. "Gimme a minute," she said, sighing. "I feel like if I move right now, I'm gonna fall over."

Derek nodded, but he knew he needed to move, so he gently lifted her off him and laid her on his bed. He disposed of the condom and laid next to her. He watched her closely for a minute.

"What?" she asked, feeling his eyes on her.

"Why don't you cuddle anyone, Lydia?" he asked her gently. His voice was soft, thoughtful.

Lydia sighed and shrugged, "I dunno. I mean, I can't let myself get too attached to anyone. Why do you think that, before this bet, I slept with different people instead of just one fuck buddy?" He remained silent, so Lydia continued, "It's because if I fuck someone too long, just them, it runs the risk of me developing feelings."

"Feelings aren't such a bad thing," Derek said. Lydia shrugged again.

"The whole cuddling after sex, the whole afterglow thing, it just reminds me too much of what people who are in love do. People cuddle after they just _made love_." She made a disgusted look, like even the word left a bad taste in her mouth. "And even if I was dating someone like that, even if I was in love with someone, I wouldn't be able to make love. Making love is that slow and sweet shit, and that just doesn't get me off. It would probably be some of the worst sex I'd ever have."

"Making love doesn't _have_ to mean that," Derek protested. "Making love is basically just that - it's showing someone how much you love them. And you may not like it slow and sweet, but even a hard, fast fuck can be making love - of a sort. I guess it all depends on you, y'know?"

Lydia shrugged, "Yeah, sure, I guess, but I just...I'm all sorts of fucked up, Derek. Starting with Jackson, guys just fucked me up. I tried relationships. I tried to be happy with a special someone. It didn't work out. I just...there is no happily ever after, at least for me."

Derek wanted to bring up the mates discussion. He really did. But here, naked, in the afterglow of sex, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't tell her that she was his mate now, could he? Well, he guessed he _could_ , but doubted very much that she'd believe him. So, instead, he licked his lips and said, "Well, I guess I'm more of an optimist. I feel like there's someone out there for everyone."

"You mean like mates?" Lydia asked, and for a split second, Derek thought that maybe Lydia knew. He thought that maybe Stiles, or even Cora or Malia, had ratted him out. As he nodded, though, he got his answer. She said, "I guess for you werewolves, there's someone for everyone. Y'know, Stiles and Cora told me that he's Cora's mate. I bet that's a really great feeling, y'know? Knowing that, absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, there's someone out there for you. I know it's rare that they actually find their mate, but hey, if you can, it's a guaranteed happily ever after, right? But other than that, I'm not sure there's someone out there for everyone. Sometimes I even wonder if it's just some Disney bullshit they put out there just to sell movies."

There was a silence that followed. Derek figured he could drop the bombshell now but he didn't think that Lydia'd believe him. So he kept his mouth shut. He watched her intently for a little while, trying to figure out how would be the best way to tell her, but instead, she said, "You mind if I nap here? I'm really tired right now."

Derek chuckled as he shook his head, "No, go ahead. I've got some calls to make. Stay as long as long as you'd like."

Lydia smiled in reply, but then rolled over, pulling a sheet over her still naked body, and drifted off.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look at that, another update! I don't exactly know what happened here - I just started writing yesterday afternoon and it only took a couple of hours and I had a chapter written. I really hope the chapter is as good as I think it is - I'm actually pretty proud of it. I also don't know when the next time I'll be able to update is, but I'm hoping it'll be soon.

Three weeks later, Lydia was sitting in her apartment after class, and she let out a sigh. She felt like an idiot. After her mom got better and got out of the hospital, Lydia had called Stiles to come and pick her up to take her back to Berkeley. She was avoiding Derek. She knew he'd figure it out eventually - Derek wasn't stupid, after all - but she needed just a little space between the two of them.

When she realized that she had spilled her guts about everything that she had been feeling, including the whole mates discussion, she felt like an idiot. Nobody knew that about her - not even Stiles or Cora. They didn't know how she felt about why she didn't date. Everybody was pretty sure that she didn't date because of the shit show she had been through when it came to relationships, but that was only half right. If she spent too much time dwelling on it, it was going to put her into a depression, but she didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her.

These past few months with Derek had been different. She and Derek were friends. They spent time together out of bed, and he was there for her when she needed someone. Sure, she could rely on Stiles and Cora - she always could, that's why they were her best friends - but when she needed Derek, he was right there for her. And the thought that he was only doing that because of the bet made her sick to her stomach.

She wanted more with him, she realized. What she had told Stiles that day was true; she wasn't in love with Derek - at least, not yet - but she was well on her way of getting there. She could tell you things about Derek that she absolutely adored - how loyal he was to his family (or anyone in the pack, honestly), she loved the fact that he didn't take crap from anyone, she loved that he put others first. He may seem like a little bit of a prick on the outside, but when it really boiled down to it, Derek did whatever he could for the people who were important to him.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that Lydia didn't even realize that Stiles had burst through her front door until he was standing right in front of her. She looked up at him, "What's the emergency?"

Stiles shook his head, "I guess there isn't one, but I want you to know that I had to talk to Cora, Laura, _and_ Malia out of coming over here to drag your ass out of the apartment. You do realize that it's been three weeks and you haven't done much outside of going to class, right?"

"That's not completely accurate," Lydia said, watching Stiles closely. Finally, she sighed, "Sit the fuck down, Stiles. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," he mumbled out before taking a seat next to her on the couch. That's when Lydia sighed, "Everything's fucked up, Stiles. It's all...I'm sorry I took this fucking bet. I regret it immensely. I'm sorry that I let myself get so close to Derek. I'm sorry that we became friends. I'm not really sorry that we fucked, though, because that was some of the best sex I've ever had. But...the feelings and all that shit? This time it was really fucking different and I can't take it."

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" Stiles asked, his gaze softening as he watched Lydia closely. Lydia felt the tears start to prick at her eyes as she looked at him.

"I don't know," she said, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what I feel. I just know that I hate myself so much right now for even thinking that I could have a casual sex relationship with someone in the pack and not feel shitty about it."

She paused for a moment and looked at Stiles. Finally she said, "Is this what it feels like? Unrequited love? Is this what I made you feel in high school when you wanted to date me and I was cruel to you?" She watched Stiles, whose eyes never left her gaze, but then said, "I'm so sorry, Stiles. So very fucking sorry."

When the tears started to fall from her eyes, Stiles put his arms around her, "It's okay to cry, Lyds. But things aren't all bad."

"Things are worse than bad, Stiles," Lydia said, repositioning herself so that she and Stiles were cuddling on the couch. "I love him, and all he wanted to do was win a stupid bet. I love him, and he's never going to feel the same way about me - not ever - and that really fucking hurts me inside."

-x-

"Derek Hale!" Stiles was five hundred percent done. He couldn't take everything that he was feeling right now. As soon as Lydia was asleep and he had moved her into her own bed, he had left her apartment and practically ran to the Hales'. He was going to kill Derek for hurting Lydia like he had.

"Goddamn Stiles, not so fucking loud," Malia said, poking her head up over the couch. She rubbed at her eyes, "I was in the middle of the hottest dream about - "

"Not now, Mia," Stiles interrupted. "Where's your cousin?"

"Cousin?" He could tell that Malia was just waking up - whenever Malia first woke up, it took her a little while to get coherent.

"Yeah. The dark, broody, hot one that I'm about to kill. He here?"

Malia listened for a moment before nodding and pointed in the direction of the stairwell. "He's in his room. I can hear him talking up there - he's talking to Laura."

"Good," Stiles said, starting to walk away. "I can have witnesses for when I kill him."

"If this is what I think it's about," Malia said, yelling after Stiles, "then Laura probably will help you."

When Stiles burst through Derek's bedroom door, Laura, Cora and Derek all watched him like he was mental. And maybe he was. But Stiles had had it.

"Why yes, Stiles, please come in," Derek said sarcastically. But with one look at Stiles' face, they knew he meant serious business.

"You are about to die, Derek," Stiles said seriously. "Because I'm going to kill you. And when I explain to Talia _why_ I killed you, she's gonna understand, so don't expect people to blame me for your death."

"What's going on?" Cora asked, jumping up to stand next to her boyfriend. She took a whiff and said, "And why do you smell like Lydia and regret and..." and then looked straight at Derek.

"What?" Derek asked. He knew that this was not going to be good.

"I'm going to help him kill you, Derek, and do you know why?" Cora asked, fire in her eyes. "Because Stiles smells like Lydia, regret and salt - from her tears, I'd bet. She's been crying and you were there holding her, weren't you?" Cora asked.

Laura just looked from Stiles and Cora over to Derek, and Stiles knew that she had to be wondering what the hell was going on, so Stiles said, "Do you know what Lydia's been doing for the past two hours? She's been at her apartment, crying her eyes out. And do you know _why_?" There was a silence, but Derek kept Stiles' gaze, so he continued, "She's been crying about some douchebag who she made a bet with. This guy, you see, bet her that she couldn't sleep with just one person monogamously without falling in love with them. And then he did some things - you know, wormed his way into her heart, after she was trying really hard not to fall for anyone ever again - and won't tell her the one thing that is important for her to know."

"And what's that?" Derek asked, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"She just _happens_ to be this douchebag's mate," Stiles all but growled. "See, I made a promise to myself a long ass time ago that if any guy ever made Lydia Martin cry, I was going to make them regret it. She thinks that you did everything for a stupid bet. She thinks the only reason you bet her this to begin with is because you wanted to win said stupid bet so you can humiliate her. She doesn't think that you could possibly want _her_. Now, I didn't tell her that she was your mate because I know this thing is sensitive. I get it. And I wouldn't have wanted anybody but Cora to tell me I was her mate. But, Derek, she's miserable. She thinks that you're never going to feel the same way about her that she feels about you."

"And how's that?" Derek asked, almost sounding timid.

"She's in love with you, asshole," Stiles said. "Everything that you are, everything that you've done, you've made her fall in love with you, and you aren't even brave enough to tell her that she's your fucking mate."

Cora grabbed Stiles' hand to try to calm him down when Laura cleared her throat and looked over at Derek. "Der?" she asked. "Is this true? Is Lydia your mate?"

Suddenly, Derek was ashamed. He hung his head low and mumbled confirmation. Stiles didn't hear it, but Derek knew that Cora and Laura would.

"Lydia's your mate," Laura said, letting it sink in. "Lydia's your fucking mate, and you bet her this?!" Okay, now she was starting to get angry. Derek didn't say anything, though; Laura may have been the most infuriating big sister he could have ever asked for, but she had a point to be angry. "Do you realize what this could do to her?"

"What do you mean, to her?"

"Oh my fucking God, Derek, please don't tell me that you're that stupid," Laura said. She looked directly at Derek, "The mating bond doesn't only affect the werewolf. It also affects the werewolf's human. Right, Stiles?" she asked, looking directly at Stiles. He nodded.

"Yeah. I can feel Cora - like, her feelings and shit. It's like I've got this invisible bond with her, even when she's not with me."

"You went and played around with your mate, a girl who doesn't even fucking know she's your mate, and now what? You're gonna let her feel like this? Are you honestly going to let her feel like the only reason you wanted her around was a good fuck, or what?"

"Laura -" Derek started, but Laura shook her head.

"Don't, Derek. Lydia deserves someone who is going to love her."

"I do love her!" Derek shouted, aggravated. "I've been in love with her for years! I've been in fucking love with her since she was thirteen!"

It got quiet. It got so quiet, in fact, that you could hear a pin drop. Nervously, Cora licked her lips and said, "Say again?"

"That day, the first day you brought Lydia home," Derek said, looking guilty. "Remember? She came over to the house because the two of you got partnered up for a history project. The first time I saw her, the first time I fucking _smelled_ her, I knew what she was to me."

"And?" That was Stiles. Derek knew Stiles was going to be pissed about this for a while - and he had every right to be, after all. Everyone knew that he and Lydia were incredibly close.

"And all these years, I've pushed her away because she's always with someone or other. When she was thirteen, when you guys were thirteen, she was attached at the hip to Jackson fucking Whittemore. I knew that he was going to end up hurting her in the end, but you were just kids, you know? And I couldn't just sit there and smell what she was to me, so I had to push her away. I had to get her to hate me."

"And when Jackson broke her heart?" Stiles asked.

"When he broke up with her, it was hard for her, and I knew she was in rebound mode. She wasn't going to want to settle back into a steady relationship so soon after getting her heart torn out of her chest. So I thought I'd bide my time and wait."

"And then Natalie went into the hospital," Laura said.

"Yeah. When Natalie went into the hospital, Lydia was hurting. I mean, she was doubly hurting from the fact that her father had just died and her mother was in a near catatonic state. When she was living with us, I couldn't take advantage of her like that. So I tried to make her hate me even more. And everyone else was flocking around her, like you," he looked at Laura, "and you two," he said, looking at Cora and Stiles, "and even Mom and Dad, so I knew she'd be taken care of. I knew you guys would look after her."

"What about her other relationships? Brandon and Carolyn?" Stiles asked.

"Think about it, Stiles," Derek said, getting tired of the third degree. Yeah, he was getting tired of it, but they had every right to know everything that had gone on inside of his head and why he had made the choices he had. "When you have your heart set on dating someone, or even just like someone, you don't listen to what other people have to say about that person, right? Especially if it's bad?" With a nod from Stiles, Derek said, "Lydia had to make her own decisions, she had to make her own choices. And then she did that threesome thing with Allison and Isaac - which drove me fucking _crazy_ , by the way - and I knew it wasn't going to last very long. But because of the way I had treated her after Natalie went into Eichen House, she wasn't going to give me the time of day."

"And then she stopped dating all together," Cora said. Derek nodded.

"So," Stiles said, "When you saw the opening for the bet, you went for it. That's why you've cared so much about her mental state lately, about _her_. You've been trying to make her like you."

"Duh," Derek said. "I thought if she saw me, the _real_ me, she'd forget how much she hated me and want a relationship with me. But it seems like I've fucked that up, too."

"I still need to go over there," Laura said, grabbing her jacket. "She's going to need someone to talk to, and I know that she isn't gonna want to talk to you."

-x-

When Lydia woke up later that evening, she was being cuddled. Someone, who was definitely _not_ Stiles, but more of the female variety, was in her bed, holding her. She rolled over and saw Laura laying there, her eyes open like she was waiting for something to happen.

"Hey," Laura said softly. They lay there together, staring at one another, for a few moments before Laura said, "So, I saw Stiles earlier."

"He didn't try to kill your brother, did he?" Lydia asked on reflex. She knew that Stiles could be overprotective when Lydia got hurt. Laura just snorted out a laugh.

"He didn't _try_ ," Laura answered. "But he said a few choice words to him. It was everything that Derek deserved to hear." She watched Lydia for a moment before saying, "How are you holding up?"

"I don't know," Lydia answered honestly. "I mean, I get that this was all a stupid bet. I understand that all he wanted to do was humiliate me. I don't know why I ever thought that he was capable of anything else. I mean, he's been like this since before my dad died. I was just fooling myself by thinking he was a different guy from the one I've seen for most of my life."

"He cares about you, Lyds," Laura said. Lydia just rolled her eyes and snorted.

"You don't have to lie for him, Laur," Lydia said. Sighing, she sat up in bed, stretching her back, and then got up. "I'm gonna make something to eat. You hungry?"

"Depends," Laura answered. "What're you making?"

"Blueberry pancakes," Lydia answered immediately. When Laura gave her a look, she said, "What? I have a craving. Besides, pancakes are comfort food."

"Really." Laura said. It was a statement, not a question. Lydia nodded.

"Well, at least for me, they are," she answered. "So, you want some or not?"

Shrugging, Laura followed Lydia out of her room, "Sure. Sounds good."

"Look, Laura," Lydia said, getting out the griddle, "I appreciate what you're doing here. You came over to see your brother's mistake, to try and smooth things over. It's what a good big sister does. Derek made a mistake, and you feel like you need to fix it. It's honorable of you. But you don't have to."

"Lydia," Laura said, taking a seat at the kitchen island counter, "It's more than that. I know about the bet. Stiles told us all about it the day after it started. And yeah, Derek may be my little brother. My incredibly infuriating little brother, but you're more to us, too, you know? Mom and Dad took care of you when you needed it the most. You are family to me. I needed to make sure that you were okay."

Lydia smiled at Laura, but she could tell right away that it was fake. But she didn't stop Lydia when Lydia said, "I'm good. No need to worry about me."

"You're a shitty liar, Lyds, especially to a werewolf," Laura answered. "I know that you feel something for Derek. But would you believe me at all if I said that Derek feels something for you, too?"

Lydia shook her head. "But you don't have to worry about it," she said quickly. "I'm going to be okay. I've been through worse than this."

Laura got up and wrapped her arms around Lydia. She couldn't have the mates discussion with Lydia; that was something that Derek was just going to have to man up and do himself. When they broke apart, Lydia continued making her pancakes and Laura decided to change the subject. Sitting back down, she said, "So, have you heard about Peter and Mel's wedding?"

What about it?"

"They wanna have it next month. The beginning of January. Are you gonna go?"

"Next month?" Lydia asked, flipping a pancake onto a waiting plate. "Why so soon?"

Laura shrugged, but then said, "They've been dating seven years. Besides that, I've learned to never question Peter whenever he sets his mind to something. It's smarter that way."

Lydia laughed, "Yeah, I bet." She sighed before answering Laura's question, "I'll probably go. I mean, even though I may not like him all the time, Peter _is_ pack."

"Yeah," Laura said as Lydia handed her a plate of pancakes. "He can be pretty creepy sometimes."

Lydia laughed.

After eating their pancakes, Lydia asked Laura if she wanted to stay for a movie, telling her that Scott, Kira, Allison and Isaac were at the movies, and Laura agreed. That's how they found themselves sitting in the living room, watching _The Notebook_ for what felt like the thousandth time that Lydia had seen it.

"You sure you wanna watch this, Lyds?" Laura asked. "I mean, I like this movie as much as anyone else, but the way you're feeling right now..." her voice trailed off.

"The way I'm feeling right now, I could use a good cry," Lydia said. "This'll help that along.

Laura shrugged, and they continued to watch the movie.

Around two, when the movie was over, Laura looked over at Lydia and saw that she was fast asleep. Wordlessly, she got up off the couch, rearranging Lydia so she wouldn't have the biggest kink in her neck when she woke up, and covered her with the fleece throw that she kept on the back of the couch. Laura gave Lydia one last look before flipping the TV off and leaving the apartment, locking the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm kind of drawing this whole Derek and Lydia mates thing out a little bit, but there's a reason, I promise. There's a method to my madness, I promise.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have been looking really forward to writing this chapter. I've had most of it already written in a different document since I started the story, but I'm also looking forward to writing the next chapter. This chapter was longer, but then I decided to split it into two because it would've been really freaking long. I need to put finishing touches on the next one, so give me a little while to fix it. I don't know when I'll be able to post it, but hopefully soon. This'll probably answer some of the question that you guys are having about the story. I've been reading all your comments, and trust me, things will be better soon. I promise.

Sighing, Lydia gave herself one more once over in the full length mirror that hung on the back of the closet door of her childhood bedroom. Since she didn't want to even be here right now, but Peter and Melissa _were_ pack, and that didn't have anything to do with the way that Derek had been avoiding Lydia the last few weeks.

It had been almost a month since Laura's visit to Lydia that night. A month since Lydia's revelation - she did, in fact, like Derek. Fuck, she was in love with the douchebag, and she knew it. For the first few weeks after Laura's visit, Lydia tried to live in denial - she refused to talk _to_ Derek, she refused to even talk _about_ Derek. It was true that he hadn't outright rejected her - _yet_ , her mind supplied - but she would be damned if he got a chance to make her feel any smaller than she did already.

Everyone in the pack had gone home for the holidays because the Saturday before winter semester started was the day Peter and Melissa were getting married. That would be tomorrow. Tonight, however, was the rehearsal dinner, and even though most of them weren't going to be in the wedding, both Peter and Melissa had said they wanted the pack there. "You guys are my family," Melissa had said when Lydia tried to protest. "It would feel wrong if you weren't there."

Damn Melissa McCall and damn her charming smile and her comforting voice. The saying went it take a village to raise a child, right? In that case, the younger members of the pack had been raised by quiet a few people. There was her mom, Melissa, John, Chris, Peter, William, Talia - they all had had a hand in raising every one of them. It was almost like a joint effort, and so when Melissa asked Lydia to do something, it was like her own mother asking. She couldn't tell her no.

This was why Lydia was smoothing out the skirt of her dress and watching herself in the full length mirror right now. She didn't want to do this, knowing that Derek was going to be Peter's best man - everyone knew he would be, so it really didn't come to any surprise to anyone - and Lydia would eventually have to face him. She'd done a really good job so far of avoiding Derek when she could. Every time he approached her, she busied herself doing something else. But tonight, she knew she'd have to mingle with the pack, and damn it, she didn't want to. It was true, she was acting somewhat like a child, but she just wanted to turn away from Derek and never have to talk to him again.

"This is your own fault," Lydia told her reflection. "You should've said no. You should have never taken that bet. The whole thing was a bad fucking idea from the very beginning."

"Then why did you do it?" came a voice. Lydia looked over at the windowsill and saw Malia sitting there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her. Malia finished climbing through the window - in a dress, no less - and went over, sitting on Lydia's bed. "Did they send you to escort me or something?"

Malia shook her head, "No, nothing like that. Dad was worried that you weren't going to show. He knows - well, _knew_ I guess, now - about the bet. He was afraid that since things between you and Derek are -" Malia snapped her mouth shut in the middle of her sentence.

Lydia sighed. "It's fine, Mia," she said. After the couple of years that Malia lived as a coyote, she often forgot that people needed a certain amount of...tact. Malia had no brain to mouth filter - it was one of the things that she had very much in common with Stiles. She didn't think about things before she said them, forgetting that some people needed to be handled with more care than others. Lydia loved that about Malia, though - she loved that Malia was open and honest with everyone. Yes, sometimes she said things a little more bluntly than they needed to be said, but she wasn't fake for anyone, and Lydia respected that.

"What _is_ going on between you and Derek?" Malia asked curiously, cocking her head to the side while she watched Lydia fix her makeup. Lydia sighed.

"He doesn't want me. He wanted to humiliate me. I get it - and great fucking job for him, too. He did it well. I thought I had this bet in the bag. I thought - I mean, I honest to God thought - that I could do it. I thought I could fuck him without feelings attached."

"Y'know, Lyds," Malia said after a moment, "I think Derek likes you, too. I mean, you can't spend that much time with someone - in bed or out, because I know what you're going to fucking say - without getting some kind of feelings. And if he just fucked you, but really hated you, that wouldn't make sense. That's not Derek."

Lydia shrugged, putting her lip gloss back into her purse and said, "I don't know. I mean, I don't know Derek like you guys do. Derek's been nothing but a gigantic ass to me for...well, for as long as I can remember."

Sighing as she checked her hair in the mirror one more time, Lydia said, "Come on. I know you're here to escort me, so let's get this thing over with, okay?"

-x-

Seven weeks. It'd been seven whole frustrating weeks since Derek had seen Lydia. Sure, he saw glimpses of her every now and again - when she allowed him to. He knew he fucked up. He knew that he should've told her that she was his goddamn mate when he had the chance. Now, he wasn't sure he'd ever get the chance. Even if he were to break down and just say it, as Malia suggested - _"I mean, come on, Der, all you've gotta do is just say it. Tell Lydia that she's your mate and you've been a douchebag for a reason. She'll understand."_ \- he couldn't do it. What if Lydia _didn't_ understand? What if she thought it was part of a horrible joke? He'd never have her. And he had had her these past few months and they'd been the best months of his life. He had something to look forward to those months - Lydia. And it wasn't just the bedroom parts that he liked. He came to realize early on that he liked Lydia's wit, her humor, and she was a good person. She wasn't always the nicest - seriously, Lydia could be a bitch when the time called for it - but all in all, she was a decent person. And he fucked it up.

"Penny for your thoughts, dear nephew," Peter said, clapping a hand on Derek's shoulder. Derek snapped out of his thoughts and looked directly at his uncle.

"You startled me, Peter," Derek said, shaking his thoughts away.

"You should've heard me coming," Peter answered. He watched Derek closely for a minute before saying, "So, things with dear Lydia aren't working out, then, huh?"

"Don't, Peter," Derek growled. "I know I fucked up, but I don't need everyone in my life reminding me that she'll probably have nothing to do with me."

"Why would you say that?"

"Seriously, Peter, you're getting senseless in your old age," Derek jabbed. He was joking, of course - in reality, Peter was only about five years older than Laura. "I mean, if you haven't caught on by now, you need to get your senses looked at."

"What, that Lydia's your mate?" Peter asked. Derek looked around before sighing.

"What, is there some kind of fucking newsletter that I don't know about? I mean, everybody knows."

"You should thank Mia," Peter answered. "She's the one who told Cora and Stiles. I also know that the only reason Laura knows is because of Stiles. That's not everyone."

Derek rolled his eyes before answering, "So, how'd you know?"

Peter froze, and for a minute, Derek regretted asking. But then Peter shook it off and said, "I was young once, too, Derek. I know what it's like when you first meet your mate. I know the look - and you, Derek my boy, have it. You've always had that look whenever you look at the lovely Lydia. I knew that she was your mate probably before even you did."

"Which means Mom and Dad probably know, too," Derek grumbled.

"Hey," Peter said, shrugging, "if my dear sister _does_ know anything about it, she's doing the smart thing and not saying anything. She's not gonna push you, though, Derek."

"Peter," Derek said, sighing, "It doesn't matter anyway. Everything's fucked up between me and Lydia and there's no way to fix it."

"Derek," Peter said, looking at him very seriously - which was weird, because Peter was hardly ever serious. "You can fix this. Just tell her. I know you're afraid - I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I know she doesn't date. But something tells me that it'll be different with you. You'll see."

-x-

The wedding was beautiful. It went on without a hitch and Lydia was happy that Peter and Melissa were so happy. She was siting at a table at the reception the next night when she noticed Derek come up to her. Damn it.

"Hey," he said to her softly. Lydia smiled the best that she could, but Derek knew right away that it was fake.

"You wanna dance?" he asked her. Lydia shrugged.

"I guess. I mean, why not?" she said, mostly asking herself. What was she going to do?

As their bodies swayed to the music, Lydia tried to ignore this nagging feeling in her gut that there was more than just a friendly dance here. She tried to take her mind off how much she wanted them to be something - something special. She couldn't think like that.

"The band's really nice," Lydia found herself saying. "The ceremony was really nice, too. I can't believe that, after seven years of dating, they finally decided to do this."

"Peter's always been really funny about getting married again," Derek said. "After Aunt Vanessa died in that fire, Peter almost acted like he was hurting her memory by even entertaining the thought of getting married again. When he and Mel started dating, remember how jumpy he seemed? They had been dating for months before he even told anyone, and the only reason he had told me was because I kind of caught them in the act of it."

"Caught them in the act?"

"Yeah, they were at a movie and Laura and I ran into them at the theater. They looked really cozy. Peter was afraid of how Malia was going to take him moving on, since Aunt Vanessa had, you know, _died_."

"I get that," Lydia said honestly. "I mean, my dad's been gone for six years and even though Mom and John have something going on, she's still a mess on the anniversary. It's something the two of us kind of share."

There was silence as they swayed, but if you asked Lydia, it was really fucking loud. She wanted him. Over the last few months of being intimate with him, it made her want more. She wanted so much more from the bastard, and yes, she was in love with him. She loved Derek, and wasn't sure what to do about that at all. She hadn't been in a true relationship since her junior year of high school and had no fucking idea how to even do it right. An overwhelming amount of emotions came tunneling through at that moment, and Lydia almost felt like she was going to cry. She needed to break this - whatever that she had with Derek - she needed to break it off.

It took her a few moments to realize that Derek had been watching her face intently. Licking her lips absentmindedly, she looked up into his eyes and whispered, "Der, I'm gonna kiss you. I wanna kiss you."

"I'm not gonna stop you," he said, his voice low.

When their lips met, it felt like an explosion of sorts. It had been a really long time since Lydia had kissed anyone on the mouth, and Derek's lips were so very soft and warm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Lydia tilted her head and was really surprised when Derek let her control the kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and caressed his with it. He tasted like champagne and something that was just purely _Derek_. She kissed him hungrily and he kissed back just as fiercely.

By the time they they broke away, they were both breathing a little heavily and she noticed the music had stopped and people were watching them. Maybe she was just love drunk, or really _kiss_ drunk as it were, right now, because she didn't care bout having to explain herself to the onlookers. Instead, she just watched Derek, "Are you driving back to Berkeley tonight?"

He shook his head, "No. I was gonna stay in my bedroom at the house."

"I need to feel you. I wanna feel you. Can I stay with you tonight?"

Derek looked a little surprised, but it was only for a millisecond before he nodded, "Yeah, sure. I want you just as bad, Lydia."

"I don't want you to take me here," Lydia said quietly, in hopes that the other wolves wouldn't be able to hear. They'd done the public quick fuck in a bathroom stall thing before, but this was the last time she's probably be sleeping with him, so she wanted to be able to take her time. She really enjoyed kissing him and was planning on doing it much more later that night. "You think we can get away with leaving right now?"

Derek chewed his thoughts over carefully before saying, "I don't care what they're going to say. Let's go."

He dragged her through the crowd, not caring what anybody had to say about it, and they left the reception hall. Lydia was practically thrumming with nervous energy by the time they reached the Hale house, and Derek grabbed Lydia's hand and led her up to his bedroom.

Once they were there, Lydia kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. God, if this was what kissing on the mouth felt like, she couldn't believe she'd gone this long without. It was almost intoxicating. When they broke apart to breathe, Lydia took the incentive and stripped him out of his suit jacket, tie and shirt. When he was bare chested, she pushed him over and he landed on his back on the bed with a soft "Oof."

"God, Derek, the things you do to me," Lydia said softly. She knew she didn't have to speak up for Derek to be able to hear her. Leaning over, she undid his pants as he lifted his hips so she could get them off his body already. As he lay in the middle of his queen sized bed in just his boxers, Lydia went over and straddled his waist.

She leaned down once more, kissing him, and she took her time with it. Derek had been so right; kissing was the perfect prelude to sex. The only reason she had gone this long without it is because she didn't want to get used to it. But, _Jesus Christ_ , the feeling of his lips on hers was just incredible. She was probably going to regret this later on, kissing him on the mouth, because she could easily fall in love with it. They lay there in the middle of the bed, Lydia fully clothed and Derek just in his boxers, making out for what seemed like forever, but yet no time had passed at all. This was definitely something she could get used to.

Lydia was a little surprised when Derek sat up, lifting her dress up and off her body. He kissed her again, slowly and deeply, and started unhooking her bra. He flung it on the other side of the room, taking his time to kiss down her body. He kissed her neck, leaving a hickey in his wake, and kissed down to her breasts. He cupped them in his large hands, taking one of them and swirling his tongue around the hardened nipple. He groaned; God, she tasted so good. He nipped and bit at the nipple until he was satisfied and then moved on to the next one. Lydia was grinding her hips into him, trying to get some kind of friction, but he wasn't having that.

Lydia was a little surprised when Derek flipped them over so she was lying on the mattress and he was hovering above her. He kissed his way down her body, occasionally sucking a bruise into her skin, and she moaned at the contact. He rid her of her panties and opened the drawer to his nightstand. Lydia leaned up on her elbows so she could see what he was doing.

"I would normally take my time with this, Lydia, but I need to be in you, like, now. Is that okay with you?" he asked, grabbing a condom out of the drawer.

"Yeah, it's fine, but we can't use your condoms, they -"

"Actually, we can," he said, interrupting her. "I went out and bought special condoms after I found out about your allergy. It's gonna be fine."

He ripped open the foil packet and rolled the condom on himself. Then, leaning over, he kissed Lydia fully on the mouth again. She tasted like champagne and strawberries, and he could get lost in the taste of her. As he pushed into her slowly, she moved her hips to meet his. Once he bottomed out, he stilled for a minute. After all, it _had_ been seven weeks and he wasn't sure if she would take a minute to get used to his size or not.

"Move, Derek," Lydia moaned out. "Goddamn it, I need you to fucking _move_."

He complied, setting a slower pace than normal. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss once again, taking his time with it. As their bodies moved together, Lydia was really surprised - she wasn't impatient, or begging him to go faster or harder. This just felt...right. It felt right and Lydia loved it.

When she came, it surprised her that it hadn't taken much at all. Derek fucked her through it, moaning when she tightened around him. He groaned and exploded into the condom. After a few minutes of him trying to catch his breath, Derek slid out of her and disposed of the condom. He was expecting Lydia to get up and leave - that was what she normally did, after all - but she surprised him by saying, "I know we never do this, but, uh...do you mind if we cuddle?"

He was taken aback. He had never thought that she would actually cuddle with him afterwards. Of course, what Stiles had told him a month ago rang in his head, "She's in love with you." He started to wonder if it was true.

Right after Stiles had said it, Derek had shrugged it off. While Stiles and Cora had a pretty good read on Lydia most of the time, they didn't know everything about her. Derek was just wondering if Stiles had only _thought_ that Lydia was in love with him. But as he lay in his bed, Lydia in his arms, he started to wonder if he should've given Stiles more credit.

Derek didn't have time to ask Lydia about it, though; a few minutes passed and he noticed her breaths had gotten deeper and she was asleep. He kissed her on the top of her head before leaning back and closing his eyes, too.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's kind of short, but it just felt like the right place to stop, so I did. I have been neglecting my other stories lately, so I'm going to work on them, and I probably won't update for a while. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and I'll update again when I can.

The next morning, Lydia was surprised when she woke up in a bed that wasn't hers, until she remembered the previous night. Oh yeah, she'd slept with Derek, and oh yeah, she even kissed him.

Quietly, she wriggled out from underneath Derek's arm and pulled her clothes back on. She'd shower once she got back to her mom's house. Then maybe she'd leave for Berkeley early.

She knew last night had been different. The sex had been more along the lines of _making love_ , and she had asked Derek to cuddle her. For a while, she had wanted to feel his arms around her, but she gave in last night and it had actually _really_ good to be cuddled someone that wasn't her best friend. It had been pretty satisfying.

She held her shoes in one hand as she snuck down the stairs. She was trying really hard not to wake anyone up, considering it was only seven, and she knew the others hadn't gotten in before two. She almost made it to the front door when she heard, "So, are we sneaking out, Lydia?"

Recognizing Talia's voice, Lydia sighed and sent out a silent prayer to whatever deity may be listening before turning around. Talia was sitting in the living room adjacent to the hallway, and of course she had seen her. Sitting next to Talia was Laura. Talia patted the couch on the other side of her, "Come on, Lydia. I think it's time that you and I had a chat."

Lydia was worried. Talia was using her "mom voice", as Stiles called it, and she used that whenever shit was important. Well, Lydia figured, this _was_ pretty important. The reason the adults (other than Peter, because, let's be real here) didn't know about Lydia's no relationships rule was because she couldn't take the I'm-disappointed-in-you voice that the parents were pretty good at using. Lydia nodded silently and went over to sit next to Talia.

"Laura," Talia said after a moment, "I'd like to have a chat alone with Lydia, if you don't mind." Laura nodded and went into another room, but Lydia wasn't stupid; she knew that Laura was going to be listening.

"If I may ask," Talia said, watching Lydia closely, "what exactly is going on between you and my son?"

Talia was so kind, so loving, and such a damn good alpha that Lydia always wanted to spill her guts to her. Not only was Talia kind, but she was also extremely compassionate and also kind of scary when she had to be. Lydia licked her lips, trying to figure out the best way to start.

"Nothing," Lydia said. "I mean, I know you don't want to know this, since Derek is your son and everything, but he and I have - _had_ ," she corrected herself, "a purely physical relationship. It's over, though - last night was it. I have to end it."

"Friends with benefits," Talia answered. She didn't look mad; no, Talia looked worried, which was probably two hundred percent worse. Lydia nodded silently.

"I know of your reputation, Lydia," Talia said after a moment. Lydia knew she had a stunned expression, and Talia nodded, "That's exactly why I haven't told your mother. It might just give her a heart attack. So, if you don't mind, pretend that Derek is not my son, and go over it with me from the beginning."

So Lydia did. She started to tell Talia about the bet and how close they had gotten. She talked about how they had become friends, about how Derek was a much better person than she had thought he was, and how she had misjudged him all these years. She talked about her feelings for him and how that's why she had to break it off.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Derek feels the same way you do?" Talia asked when Lydia was all talked out. Lydia just shook her head.

"Everybody keeps saying that. Cora, Stiles, Laura, Malia...they've all asked me that question. But if Derek felt the same way about me, he'd tell me. He's never been afraid to tell me anything before, so why not that?"

"Maybe because he is also aware of your reputation. Tell me, Lydia," Talia said, grabbing one of Lydia's hands in hers, "are you in love with him?"

Silent, Lydia nodded. She felt her chest start to tighten like she was going to cry, so she took a deep breath. "I'm so in love with him it's unbelievable," she said. "And that's why this hurts."

Talia nodded silently.

"Which is why I was trying to sneak out. Last night was different than the previous times he and I had been together, and he's going to realize it. Which is fine, you know. Our relationship hasn't been about the bet in a long time. He's a good guy. He deserves all the happiness in the world, and if he doesn't want it from me, he deserves it from someone else. I can be friends with him."

Of course, Talia had recognized that Lydia was Derek's mate. She had been around a long time, and, as alpha, noticed a lot of things. She saw the way that he looked at her. But, recently, Talia had noticed the fact that Lydia gave him the same look back.

"Did you ever think about maybe sitting down with Derek and talking to him about this?"

"I'm going to be completely honest with you," Lydia answered, and Talia nodded. "After all the heartbreak in high school, with Jackson and the others, I can't put myself out there again. I'm afraid to tell him. I know Derek wouldn't be cruel about it - he's not that kind of person, after all - but I don't want to get my heart crushed again. I'm trying to prevent getting my heart broken."

"You're only going to suffer if you don't say anything, Lydia," Talia said. Lydia sighed.

"Look, when Derek wakes up, just let him know that I wanted to get an early start back to Berkeley. I've got some stuff to finish up and a shift at six. But please don't tell him about this."

"Lydia," Talia said, catching Lydia's gaze once more, "I meant what I said. You and Derek need to sit down and have a heart to heart. I think his response might just surprise you."

-x-

It was almost eleven when Derek tumbled down the stairs. Talia was in the kitchen, at the table, drinking a cup of coffee when Derek popped his head in. Talia looked at her son before saying, "Derek, grab yourself a cup of coffee and come here. You and I need to have a talk."

Derek poured some coffee in a mug and sat down beside Talia, saying, "If this is about Lydia staying the night here last night, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry that we skipped out on the reception early, but -"

"Derek, please," Talia said, watching her son closely. "Lydia's always welcome here, and you know that. She's practically my daughter. What I was going to talk to you about was why Lydia was sneaking out of here at seven o'clock this morning."

"Mom, please don't make me say it," Derek said, avoiding his mother's gaze.

"Derek, please look at me," Talia said, and Derek met her eyes once again. "She and I had a chat this morning before she left. She left early for school, just so you know, and asked me not to disclose certain things to you, so I'm not going to. I do have one question for you, though."

"What's that?" Derek was almost afraid of her answer, but when it came to his parents, honestly was always the best policy. Talia and William didn't lie to their children and they expected their children not to lie to them.

"Are you in love with Lydia, Derek?"

The question took him by surprise. Of all the things that Talia could have asked him, that was definitely _not_ what he was expecting. Derek sighed before saying, "Yeah, I am. I have been for a really long time."

"I thought as much," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. She looked at her son, "I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're old enough to legally drink, therefore you're old enough to manage your own life. But, Derek, I love you, and I care very much for Lydia. You could say that I love her like she's my own child, too. And I'm the alpha, which means I need to keep an eye on my pack and make sure they're protected and that they're not hurting. And I'm asking you to please go and talk to her. Tell Lydia how you feel. She deserves to know the truth, doesn't she?"

"It's more complicated than that," Derek answered.

"Look, I get that you're afraid of getting hurt. And before you say anything, I am very much aware of Lydia's reputation. I've been aware of it for a long time. I know she doesn't date, but you really need to talk to her. Derek, if you put off talking to her about the way you feel, she's just going to get her heart broken. You _both_ are going to get heartbroken, and I'd really like to prevent that."

"You know, don't you," Derek said. It was a statement, not a question. Had had no need to question if his mother knew; something about the way that she was speaking to him right now told him all he needed to know.

"I've known for a long time, Derek. Your father was my mate, and I remember how that feels. The feeling doesn't go away. And I know that you are trying to push her away to make sure that neither one of you get hurt, but Derek, it's too late for that. The longer you put it off, the longer it's going to hurt Lydia. Things are never going to go back to the way it was before your bet happened. And I don't think that she deserves to get hurt any more, don't you agree?"

Wordlessly, Derek nodded.

"I thought so. So tell her. She said she's got a shift at six, maybe you can go over there and see her on her break."

"I've been an idiot," Derek said, watching his mother closely. "I should've told her years ago. Hell, I should have told her months ago. I don't want to be the reason that she cries."

"I know that," Talia said. "You're not a bad guy, Derek. And I know what you're thinking. You think that to get her to take you seriously, you're going to have to do some kind of grand gesture. Well, that's wrong. You just need to talk to her. Use your words, Derek. I know you know how."

"It's not that easy for me," Derek said, taking a drink of his coffee.

"I know that, too," Talia answered. "And you just said that you don't want to be the reason that she cries. So don't be. Derek, just tell her."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Derek nodded, "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Mom."

"You're my son, Derek, and I'm always going to love you, no matter how many boneheaded moves you may make."

-x-

Around eight thirty, when Lydia was supposed to be taking her break, she was just sitting in the break room, watching the clock. She didn't want to be here, and she didn't even understand why she had to work tonight. Nobody was coming in. Lydia sighed and started to get up, deciding to cut her break short when she heard someone call her name from up front.

"Lydia?" It was Julie, her manager. "You have a visitor. I'm letting him back into the break room. He says he needs to talk to you. It sounds pretty important."

Lydia sat at the table for a moment and then saw Derek. She just stopped.

"Hi," he said to her. He watched her for a long minute.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. Without even responding to her words, he came closer and covered her lips with his. He put all his feelings into this kiss, since he was allowed to kiss her now, and he licked into her mouth. After a few moments, Lydia broke the kiss.

"I'm an idiot," Derek said. "I've been an idiot for a long time. Lydia, I love you. I've been in love with you for a long fucking time. Since before the bet even happened. I've been in love with you for years."

"Really?" Lydia asked, her voice small. Derek nodded.

"There's something else I need to tell you, Lydia," Derek said. He grabbed her small hands and held them in his. He licked his lips nervously before saying, "Lydia, you're my mate."

Lydia froze, and Derek was starting to question if telling her that right now was a bad idea. Lydia took a deep breath before saying, "Are...I mean, you're sure?"

Derek nodded, "I'm dead sure. I've been dead sure for a long fucking time."

"How long?" she asked. "How long have you known?"

"Since the first time I saw you," he answered honestly. "You were thirteen and had come over to do a history project with Cora. The first time I smelled you, I knew. God, Lyds, even just your scent drives me crazy."

"You've known for that long? And you didn't think to tell me sooner?"

"I'm sorry," Derek said. "Lydia, I'm so fucking sorry for causing your the heartbreak you've endured throughout your life. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry I went out of my way to make you hate me when you were a teenager. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time."

"Okay," she said. "I kind of want to be pissed at you for this. I really thought that you just wanted to win the bet so you could know that I would never be able to get off with anyone else."

Derek sighed, "Yeah, well how else would I have gotten you to take me seriously? I wanted you to see me - the _real_ me, the me that I've been hiding from you forever. I'm not a bad guy, Lydia. I just...I was afraid that you wouldn't want me, either."

"Hey, Derek?" Lydia said, and Derek watched her closely, cocking an eyebrow at her. "I'm kind of seriously in love with you, too."

Derek just grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that you guys have been wanting this to happen for a while, so I hope I did it justice!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this done for a few days but just didn't get around to updating it. So here it is. 
> 
> I also want to thank you guys one more time for the great response this story has gotten. I really wasn't expecting it.

"You should wear that one," Allison said for the tenth time that night, pointing to a dress in Lydia's closet. Lydia grabbed it - a simple blue dress with short sleeves - and held it up to herself. She turned around to Kira, "What do you think?"

Kira shrugged, "I like it as well as the other ones you've held up to yourself, Lyds." She sighed, "This is the tenth dress. You've vetoed every other one we've picked out. Why are you asking for our input when you're not listening to our advice anyway?"

"I'm nervous," Lydia said, plopping down onto her bed and putting her head in her hands. Allison got up from her position on Lydia's bed and started rummaging through her closet.

"I'm gonna find you something that will totally blow him away," Allison said, starting to go through Lydia's closet. Lydia was acutely aware of Kira watching her, so she just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell me why you're nervous," Kira said, and Lydia sighed.

"I haven't been on a date since I was seventeen years old, Kira. I don't know how to do it. I don't know what being in a relationship even entails anymore. What if I mess it up somehow?"

"Remaining monogamous doesn't seem to be your problem," Kira pointed out, "since Derek was the only guy you were sleeping with for the past four months. So, what is?"

"Talking," Lydia answered. "I don't know how to keep everything out in the open. I haven't dated anyone since our senior year of high school - four years ago, if I have to remind you - and I'm going to mess up. How do you even do a relationship, anyway?"

"Easy," Allison said, marching back over to the bed where Lydia was sitting and thrusting a few clothing items into her hands. "You hang out with them. You spend time together. You talk about everything - anything you can think of. You learn the other person. It should be easy for you."

"Why do you say that?" Lydia asked, putting on the clothes that Allison had handed her. It was a simple black jean skirt and a pretty purple blouse - they actually kind of complimented each other pretty damn well. Lydia twirled around to try to see every angle of herself in the full length mirror.

"Because you're already in love with him," Kira answered for Allison. Allison nodded. "That's half the battle right there."

"Yeah, but it's different," Lydia said, this time rummaging in her closet for a pair of shoes. "I mean, of course I love Derek. And he loves me. Yeah, I get that, okay? But I'm still worried I'm going to screw this up somehow. It's what I'm good at."

"Don't jinx yourself, Lyds," Allison answered. Kira just nodded.

"I'm not gonna jinx myself, Ally," Lydia answered. "I'm just thinking, you know? I don't know if I can do this whole 'dating' thing."

"You can," Allison said. "I know you can."

Lydia sighed, "Yeah, you're probably right."

Once Lydia was dressed, she looked at both Kira and Allison. Allison smiled at her while Kira gave her a thumbs up sign. God, she knew that she was going to screw this up. She was just hoping that she didn't screw this up _too_ badly.

-x-

Lydia told Derek she'd meet him at the café at eight o'clock. It was now seven forty-five, and Lydia was there. She was early. Lydia wasn't early very often, but she figured that this was pretty damn important. She sat at a table, waiting for him. When he did show up at eight o'clock, Derek looked really good. He was dressed in a nice pair of dress pants and a button up shirt, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Lydia smiled at him as he took a seat across from her.

"You look good," Lydia said to Derek.

"You too," he answered. "You look very beautiful."

A few moments of awkward silence passed and then Lydia said, "I'm sorry. I'm so bad at this. I don't know how to do a relationship right, and I'm gonna fuck this up somehow."

"It's not that difficult," Derek answered. "Just go with what feels right."

"I'm only good at sex," Lydia said to him. "Everyone knows that. I'm allergic to feelings."

Derek laughed. "I don't think so," he answered. "If you were allergic to feelings, you wouldn't have such a strong bond with everyone else in the pack."

"Fine," Lydia answered. "I guess I'm just allergic to romantic feelings then."

Derek reached across the table and grabbed Lydia's hand, interlacing their fingers, "Do you now want to do this? I mean, I know I asked you out, and you said yes, but we can just leave and pretend it never happened." _Even though I'll never be able to forget it,_ Derek thought, but didn't dare say it out loud. Right now, Lydia was more vulnerable than he had seen her in a really long time, so he didn't want to push her.

"This is just weird," Lydia replied honestly. "I don't know what to do or how to act. I haven't been on a date in a really long fucking time and I don't know what's expected of me."

"Nothing is really _expected_ of you," Derek answered. "I don't expect anything of you. Please believe that."

Sighing, Lydia shrugged, "I dunno. I mean, I haven't dated in a long time, and before, everyone I've been with has always expected something of me. I don't know what to do here. I'm just warning you, I probably am going to be the worst girlfriend there could be."

Derek looked straight into her eyes - and she noticed how beautiful his eyes were, how had she never noticed that before? - when he said, "Let's take things slow. I mean, maybe just go on a few dates and see what happens?"

Lydia watched him silently for a few seconds before saying, "Are you gonna be one of those douchebags who withholds sex? 'Cause, I gotta tell you, I really enjoy it and if you're gonna be like that -"

"Lydia, stop," Derek said, smirking a little. "I'm not that kind of guy. You are never gonna hear those words coming from me, okay?"

"Okay," Lydia said. "Because we've been having some really great sex the last four months and I really don't wanna give that up."

Derek smirked, "Believe me, baby, neither do I."

-x-

Later that night, Derek and Lydia tumbled into her apartment, kissing each other like their lives depended on it. Derek could kiss Lydia forever; her lips were so soft, so warm, so fucking inviting. Lydia kissed back like she needed it to survive. They stumbled through the apartment until they reached Lydia's bedroom, neither one wanting to break the kiss. Once they stumbled onto Lydia's bed, she broke the kiss and looked at him, breathing heavily.

"Can we try something?" she asked him. "If you wanna say no, it's fine. I'm okay with that, in fact. Just never mind." She stopped talking, feeling like a fool. Lydia was nervous. Since when did Lydia feel nervous about anything that had to do with sex? She was the most confident person when it had to do with things in the bedroom. She was good at it, and she knew it, so why was she so nervous right now? At the prospect that Derek would say no?

"It's fine," Derek said. "I want you to feel free to ask me whatever you wanna ask me. Don't be afraid."

Lydia sighed. "Okay," she said. "So, what would you say, hypothetically, if I asked if I could handcuff _you_ to the headboard this time?"

Derek watched her closely before saying, "You know your handcuffs probably won't hold me, right?"

"That's what's gonna make this more exciting," she said. "I know you can break free out of those cuffs in a second. But I also know that you won't do that, if you're really into it. You'll give the illusion that I have all the power, even when I know I won't."

Derek licked his lips before looking at Lydia, saying, "Sure. If you want."

"I only want to do it if _you_ want it, Der," Lydia answered. "I don't want this to get uncomfortable for either of us."

"I want it," Derek answered. "I want you to have power. It's sexy when a girl takes charge in the bedroom - I like it."

Lydia nodded, "Okay." She went into her dresser and dug out her handcuffs. She kissed Derek fully on the mouth for a long minute before she helped Derek out of his clothes. When he was down to his boxers, she said, "Get on the bed, on your back."

He kissed her again, quickly, before he did as she asked. Lydia licked her lips nervously before she looked at him. God, Derek was gorgeous. Lydia knew that coming in to the bet, of course, but now she took the time to full appreciate it. He was beautiful, in a way that a man could be. She wasn't sure if he'd get mad if she called him that, though, so she said, "God, you're gorgeous, Derek."

"Thank you?" he said, even though it sounded like a question.

She reached up and cuffed his wrists to the bedframe when he said, "You know, Lyds, you never did tell me why you have these cuffs."

"Stiles gave them to me," she replied. "Duh."

"I know that much. But why did he give them to you? Were you two a thing?"

Lydia shook her head, "No, Stiles and I were never together. Besides, by the time we were in eighth grade, he fell fast and hard for Cora. He gave them to me a long time ago, when we were fifteen, because I wanted to experiment. I was with Jackson at the time and I wanted to know what it was like to be restrained. Not like forced or anything like that, God no, but just...submissive, I guess. I was trying to figure out some things, so I talked to Stiles about it. He and I became friends back then, but we never were more than that, nor did I want more from him at that time. It was just nice to have him as a platonic friend, y'know? So we used to talk about things, and he and I used to check guys out together, and some girls, and when I expressed that I wanted to experiment, he lifted those for me. They were his dad's spares, and even though John is a cop, he never really knew where they went. Don't ask me why. And...that's the story, I guess. I've had them ever since."

Derek nodded, "Sure, I get it."

Lydia watched him closely for a moment before slowly removing her top and skirt. She toed off her shoes, sinking about three inches, and then straddled his waist.

"If you wanna stop at any time, just tell me, 'kay?" she said to him. "I'll stop whenever you want me to."

"It's fine, Lydia. I trust you."

Lydia leaned down to kiss his lips, and what was supposed to be a quick kiss turned into a mini make-out session. Lydia licked into his mouth, cupping his cheek as she did so. Lydia would never get over the way he tasted - it was amazing. Lydia knew that the mating bond didn't just affect Derek, but it would also affect her whenever she was with Derek, and now that she was aware of the bond, she could tell that things were different. She could tell that she felt things with him that she'd never felt with anyone else, and she knew why. Things had always been different, but she had never stopped to think about it. Lydia was glad that she was kissing him, and forgot how much she loved a good makeout session.

After breaking the kiss, she started kissing down his body, nipping at his jaw, kissing down his chest. She ventured further south until she hit his boxers. "Lift your hips for me," she said, and he complied. He lifted his hips and she pulled his boxers off slowly. Licking her lips again, she threw his boxers behind her and ran a fingertip up his length. She watched his eyes closely as she said, "I don't taste you as much as I would like. I do like giving blowjobs, and I absolutely love the way you taste."

Derek groaned like that was the sexiest thing he'd ever heard, and Lydia lowered her head, licking a stripe up the underside of his cock. Derek's head fell back and he closed his eyes, groaning. Lydia loved his response, loved the way that she could undo him with just her mouth. She didn't start slowly; she put her mouth on him and took him as deep as he could go. Lydia was thankful that she had gotten rid of her gag reflex a long time ago. A lot of people would say that too, and the thought made Lydia smirk. She knew she was good at it, and yeah, she flaunted it when she could. She put everything she could into this blowjob and pretty soon, it had him groaning. He started to move his hands before the handcuffs rattled, like he forgot that he was restrained, and he said, "Shit, Lyds, gonna come."

"Good," she said, pulling off. "I wanna taste it."

"That is the sexiest goddamned thing I've ever heard," Derek groaned. Lydia started fondling his balls and took him into her throat. She hummed around him and that's when he lost it. He came into her mouth and she swallowed everything he had to give her. She leaned up, wiping some come that was on her lower lip and sucked it off her thumb, "God, Derek, you taste fucking good." The statement seemed to make him groan again.

"You got to taste me," he said, as Lydia slowly pushed her panties down and unhooked her bra. "Now I wanna taste you. Please tell me I can."

"Are you begging me?" Lydia asked. She was having a hard time believing that big, bad Derek Hale was actually begging _her_ to do anything. She kind of liked the way that felt.

"If I have to, I am," he said.

"So beg for me, Der. C'mon, I wanna hear you."

"Let me taste you Lydia, _please_ , " Derek said.

"How do you want me?" she asked him, still kind of drunk on the fact that he was fucking _begging_ her.

"Sit on my face, Lyds, please."

Even though Lydia had a lot of experience when it came to sex, she was still a little nervous. She hadn't done this very often with anyone else - after all, Derek had gone down on her more than anyone else ever had. He seemed to get off on getting her off, which was sexy as hell, and Lydia wasn't sure how to proceed from here.

Derek seemed to notice her apprehension, because he said, "Hey, Lydia, you okay?"

"I guess I just don't know how to proceed from here," she said, deciding on honesty. "I haven't exactly done this a lot."

"Go with it," Derek said. "You're not gonna hurt me, okay?"

Lydia nodded and moved, putting her legs on either side of his head. She lowered herself slowly and as soon as her center hit his mouth, Derek groaned contentedly. He licked at her center, fucking his tongue as far into her as he could, and Lydia moaned. He made a noise, so Lydia raised herself, "What?"

"I want you to really get into it," Derek said. "Ride my face. I like it when a girl really gets into it."

"Okay," Lydia said, lowering herself down again. As Derek started to really fuck her with his tongue, she started to really get into it. She lost herself in the pleasure and started grinding down. It didn't take long for her to get close, and when Derek took her clit in-between his lips and just _sucked_ , she was coming. She groaned as she came, and then rose up again.

She leaned down to kiss Derek once again, and could taste herself on his lips. "You taste like me," she giggled, and Derek smiled.

"Is that okay?" he asked, clearly still concerned that she was going to just stop kissing him.

"It's sexy as hell," she said, leaning down to kiss him again.

She rummaged around in her nightstand and produced a condom, tearing the foil package and rolling it on him. She licked her lips as she got up and straddled him, slowly sinking down. As he was surrounded by tight, wet heat, Derek groaned.

" _Jesus_ Lydia, you're so fucking tight," he said, and Lydia groaned. Once she was seated all the way, she stopped for a moment before leaning down to kiss his lips once more. After a moment, she started moving, but was moving slowly. Lydia thought back to that night they actually _made love_ , not just had sex, and how it was so easy for her to get off from that. Placing her hands on his chest, she found rhythm moving up and down, biting on her bottom lip as she did so.

"Holy fuck, Lydia, you feel so fucking good," Derek said, closing his eyes and tipping his head back. "Seriously, I will never get tired of the way you fucking feel around me."

"Good," Lydia said. She started moving a little faster, reaching down to rub her clit.

"Rub yourself off for me," Derek said, once he realized what she was doing. "You look so good, like a wet dream."

Lydia bit her lip as she giggled at his description. It wasn't much longer before she felt herself start to get close.

"Shit, Der, so fucking close," Lydia whimpered. "I'm so fucking close." She started rubbing her clit faster and harder and it took absolutely no time at all before she was coming around him.

"Oh, holy fuck," Derek said, feeling her muscles tighten around him, making him explode, too.

Afterwards, with Lydia still on top of him, she leaned over, Derek still inside of her, and she just lay there for a long minute.

"That was amazing," She said to him, "but I need just a minute. Just let me get my breath back."

"I'm all for that, Lydia, but do you think you could at least take the handcuffs off?"

Lydia giggled, "Sorry about that." She got up off him and got the key, undoing the handcuffs. He rubbed his wrists where the cuffs had been as she removed the condom, tying it off and throwing it in the trashcan Lydia kept by her bedside. Not able to resist, Lydia leaned down and gave Derek was what _supposed_ to be a quick kiss, but with his hands free, he grabbed her and pulled her on top of him. Rolling them so he was on top of her, their kisses turned into a mini-makeout session. Lydia moaned as she relished in the feeling of his lips on hers. She pulled on his bottom lip with her teeth, and that made him groan. She pulled back and looked at him closely.

"You like that, right?" she asked. "I mean, I may be sexually experienced, but I haven't actually kissed anyone on the mouth in years, and I feel...inadequate. I don't like feeling inadequate about _anything_."

"You don't have to worry about feeling inadequate, Lydia," Derek said. "You're amazing. But, if it would make you feel any better, we can spend lots of time practicing. I like to make out, especially with you, and practice makes perfect, you know."

"No," Lydia said, and Derek almost looked hurt, so she added, "I'm not saying no to you, Derek. God, that would be insane. I like kissing and I love kissing you. I was saying no to your statement. Practice does not, in fact, make perfect, because nobody is perfect and nobody can ever _be_ perfect, at anything. Practice makes better. That's all there is to it."

Derek chuckled, pulling Lydia down for another kiss, "God, Lyds, you're such a nerd."

Lydia just giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And also? I'm now taking prompts on [my tumblr](http://gabby227.tumblr.com/).


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, kids, there's just one more chapter after this and then the story's done. I didn't even realize it until I was about halfway through this chapter. The last chapter is an epilogue of sorts, and it's already written, so I just need to edit it and then I'm done. It should be up tomorrow, or maybe even later today.

Lydia could tell by the look on Aiden's face that day when he stormed into the coffee shop that he was pissed. And she knew what this was about.

The shop was pretty dead. It was nine o'clock on a Saturday night, and a lot of the college kids were out partying, not drinking coffee. Lydia always volunteered on Saturday nights because, while she enjoyed a good party, it wasn't something that she made a regular habit of, and a lot of her coworkers wanted to go to them. And hey, the money didn't hurt, either.

There were two people in the shop, but when Aiden looked at them, his eyes flashing alpha red, they got up and left as quickly as they could. Lydia was thankful that she was the only person there. She didn't want to ave to explain to Julie - or anyone else, for that matter - what was wrong with Aiden's eyes.

"What the fuck, Lydia?" Aiden asked her. Lydia just watched him, unimpressed.

"You're gonna have to give me a little bit more," Lydia said, after a few moments of silence.

"Don't do that to me, Lydia; you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. I heard that you went on a date. An honest to God, actual fucking date with Hale. I thought you didn't date?"

Lydia sighed; she had known this was coming. "Yes, we're kind of dating now," she said. "Derek and I had that bet, and he won. I love him."

Aiden growled and said, "Why him? He's been nothing but rude to you since you've known him. I've loved you, Lydia. I could've given you anything you ever want and ever need. I thought we had some kind of connection."

"Look, Aiden," Lydia said, starting to get a little nervous, "I know that you like me. But I just don't feel that way about you, okay? I'm sorry, but you and I just...it's something that was never gonna happen."

Aiden slammed his fist down on the counter, leaving a dent, "I don't fucking understand this, Lydia." He made a motion to reach for her, but that's when Lydia heard the voice.

"Don't you fucking put your hands on her," the voice growled. Lydia looked back and saw Derek and...was that Jackson?

Lydia was a little shook up to see Jackson standing there, so she just stopped for a moment. "Jackson," she said. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"In a sec, Lyds," Jackson said, watching the showdown between Derek and Aiden.

"I don't care if you are an alpha, Aiden, if you put your hands on my mate, I will _end_ you. I can promise you that," Derek said. Aiden watched him closely for a moment before looking back at Lydia.

"Mate?" he asked. "When did this happen?"

"I'm surprised as you are," Lydia said honestly. "I only found out a few weeks ago."

"She's your mate, Hale?" Aiden asked, and Lydia guessed he was trying to make sense of everything.

"Yeah, she is," Derek said. His eyes were still flashing gold and he was close to growling. "So if you know what's good for you, you'll turn around and go back out of that door, and you won't threaten her again. In fact, stay the hell away from my pack."

Aiden put his hands up in surrender, "Fine. I'll go."

"That's it?" Lydia asked, confused. Aiden looked back at her.

"Yeah, that's it. It's pretty important when someone finds their mate, and even though I still think you and I could be great together, and you and Derek are mates, I can't exactly stand in the way of that. What we had was nice while it lasted, Lydia." And with that, Aiden left.

Lydia went over and hugged Derek tightly. "It's okay," she told him, feeling like he needed the comfort more than she did. "I knew he wasn't going to hurt me."

Derek hugged back, breathing in her scent and starting to calm down a little bit. When they broke apart, Jackson cleared his throat.

"I can answer your question now," Jackson said, watching Lydia. "You asked what the fuck I was doing here, remember?" When she nodded the affirmative, he continued, "Danny's dating Aiden's twin, and Ethan said that when Aiden found out about you and Derek, he got really pissed about it. I figured he'd do something, so I called Derek, and he practically ran over here. We were worried about you."

" _You_ were worried about me?" Lydia said incredulously. "Yeah, I don't exactly believe that."

"What happened between the two of us should be put in the past, Lyds," Jackson said. "I know that I broke your heart a long time ago, and I'm sorry about it. Living in London the last few years has really helped me, and I'm not the asshole I used to be. We need to just put everything behind us and start fresh, don't you think?" When he noticed the look that Lydia was giving him, he added, "I'm moving back, to go to school in the states. I just thought that since I'm rejoining the Hale pack, there shouldn't be any unneeded animosity between the two of us."

Lydia cocked her head and watched him for a few moments. "Is it possible that you, Jackson Whittemore, have actually shown some _personal growth_?" Lydia asked. Jackson just laughed, which was something that Lydia didn't expect, either.

"Hey, I'm not the asshole I used to be," he answered. "But I do guess this means you're off limits now, right?" Derek let out a growl, and Jackson took a step back, holding his hands up in surrender. "I was just making sure."

"How about I get you guys a cup of coffee?" Lydia asked them. "I really should be working. I can't leave until midnight."

Derek nodded, "Sure. I'll take a large coffee, black."

Lydia made a face, "I don't know how you drink it that way." Still, she rang up the coffee and took Jackson's order for a caramel latte. When they tried to pay her, she said, "Don't worry about it. I've got it covered."

-x-

"Does this mean that the two of you are dating?" Cora asked Lydia the next day. It was Sunday, and it was Lydia's day of the week that she didn't do anything; she just let herself be. Of course, this was also the day that Derek had asked Lydia to go to the movies with him. She agreed, and right now she was digging in her closet to find something to wear. She was nowhere as nervous as she was on their first date, and since Derek and Lydia had been dating, things were still a lot of the same. They weren't _exactly_ the same; no, one of Derek's new favorite pastimes was the kissing the ever loving life out of Lydia, and she loved at he did that. She felt good around Derek; she felt fucking _free_. She felt around him better than she felt even around Cora or Stiles.

"Well, we've gone on dates," Lydia said, digging in her closet for a top to match the skirt she picked out. It was the middle of January, so it was cold, but it wasn't freezing, either. When she found what she was looking for, she let out a mumbled, "Ah hah!" and then dug into her dresser for a pair of tights. She chose a pair of black ones that would go with her dark purple skirt and the flower print top she just dug out of her closet. She started to get dressed while Cora just watched her.

"What, Cor?" Lydia asked.

"I asked if you guys were dating."

"I don't know for sure," Lydia said. "I mean, we go on dates with one another, and we spend time together. Is that what dating entails?"

"What did Derek say about it?" Cora asked.

"he said we'd take it one day at a time. I nearly had a panic attack that first date because I haven't dated in a really long time and I'm going to fuck this up somehow."

"You're doing fine," Cora said. "You know that, right?"

Lydia finished putting her outfit together and twirled around int he full length mirror, "I guess so. It's just majorly weird for me, you know?" She sighed and then said, "So, how do I look?"

"Amazing," Cora answered, "but you always look amazing, Lyds. It'd be weird if you _didn't_ look amazing."

Lydia smiled, "Thanks for the compliment." She went over to her vanity and started putting on her makeup and doing her hair. As she was heating up her curling iron, Cora said, "You know, Lyds, Derek really loves you. And he has for a long time. I don't think he's going to hurt you like Jackson - or anyone else, for that matter - did. Derek's a better guy than he's shown you all these years."

Lydia shrugged.

"So," Cora said, deciding to change the subject, "I heard that Aiden came into the coffee shop yesterday. In fact, it was all that Stiles could talk about."

"Stiles?" Lydia asked.

Cora nodded, "Yeah. He was just really surprised that Jackson was the one who told Derek what was going on. He also told me that Jackson's sticking around?"

Lydia nodded, "Yeah, it's weird for me, too. But he wants to rejoin the Hale pack, and you know that your mom is gonna let him."

"Mom likes to look for the good in people."

Lydia nodded again. "I know," she said. "I mean, if Jackson's really changed, then it's a good thing and I'm over what he did to me. I mean, I was angry for a long time, but I'm just...I'm over it. I don't wanna dwell on it and I'm a better person now, y'know? I think I can handle it."

Cora nodded, but remained silent.

Once Lydia was dressed and had her hair and makeup done, Cora let out a whistle. "You look amazing, Lydia," she said, "but I feel like I've already said that. Derek really lucked out."

Lydia laughed and then got up off the stool at her vanity, "Thanks, Cor. I've gotta go, though. I promised Derek I'd meet him at the theater."

"I know you, Lydia Martin," Cora said as Lydia grabbed her purse and jacket. "Don't get arrested for doing anything you shouldn't."

Lydia just laughed as she walked away.

-x-

Lydia didn't even have to talk Derek into seeing the romantic comedy she wanted to see. He agreed surprisingly quickly. As they sat in the movie theater, Lydia thought everything through. She decided she liked this thing she had with Derek, she liked being with him, and she liked the way he made her feel. It was just an amazing feeling and part of her wondered how she managed to go all these years without having these things. It was like the kissing revelation all over again. She loved Derek, she loved what they had together, and she wouldn't give it up for anything else in the entire world.

After the movie was over, Derek suggested they go get ice cream. There was this cute little ice cream and chocolate shop not that far from campus, so they went there. As Lydia picked at her frozen yogurt, Derek spoke, "Is something the matter?"

Lydia shook her head, "Not really. I was just thinking." She paused before eating a spoonful of her yogurt and then said, "Derek, what _are_ we?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. He seemed genuinely confused.

"I mean, I know that you and I love each other," she started, jabbing her spoon in her frozen yogurt. "And I get that I'm your mate. We've went on dates and everything, but are we dating? I mean, I don't understand what's going on here. You said we'd just wing it."

Derek nodded, looking straight into her green eyes. "You misunderstood me," he said finally, after a few minutes of agonizing silence.

"I didn't," she said. "You said -"

"I said we'd take it one day at a time, mostly because you were starting to freak out," Derek said, cutting Lydia off. "I want to be with you, in every way possible, okay? It's something I've wanted for a really long time.'

Lydia nodded, taking another bite of her frozen yogurt.

"I love you, Lydia," Derek said, "in case that wasn't clear. I didn't tell you like I should for a really long time, so I want you to know that I'm going to say it as much as I possibly can now."

Lydia smiled, "Okay, Derek. I love you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still taking prompts at [my tumblr](http://gabby227.tumblr.com/).


	15. Chapter 15

**Two years later**

"I can't believe it's your second anniversary already," Cora said as Lydia was curling her hair. Derek had told her to dress fancy, to really get herself gorgeous. She had on a strapless pink dress, something she had made an extra shopping trip just to get, and a pair of white stiletto heels. She thought she looked pretty damn good. Her hair and her makeup were immaculate, and Derek had told her to bring a change of clothes. They were going away for the weekend, and it was driving Lydia crazy trying to figure out what Derek had planned. Extravagant things never really made an appearance in their relationship, so when Derek told her to dress up, she wasn't really sure what he was up to.

"It's been a glorious two years," Lydia said. She turned around to look at Cora, "I mean it. Being with Derek, it's...it's everything, Cor. Everything that I could've ever wanted. I really do love him."

"I bet you'd never see the day that your mom got remarried, either, huh?" Cora asked. Lydia nodded.

When John had proposed a year ago, Natalie had asked him for time to think it over. The first phone call she made was to Lydia, who talked her mother down from a panic attack. Realizing that she loved him, Natalie said yes, and Lydia had been the maid of honor at her mother's wedding. Stiles had been his dad's best man, and Lydia loved the fact that she was now related to one of her best friends.

"You and Derek do go good together," Cora said.

"It's well," Lydia corrected.

"Huh?"

"You said we go _good_. The correct way to say it is we go _well_."

Cora rolled her eyes, "You are such a teacher, Lyds."

Lydia grinned, "Yeah, I know. Now," she said, twirling in front of Cora, "How do I look? You think I'm going to knock him dead?"

Cora nodded and smiled, "Hell yeah you are. He's going to be here any minute, though, so are you ready?"

Lydia took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah, I think I am."

When Derek saw Lydia, he groaned. "You look amazing," he said to her as they walked to his car. "I made reservations at that Italian place that you like so much, but I kind of want to skip dinner and head straight to dessert."

"Behave," Lydia said. Once they were seated in the Camaro, she said, "Besides that, I'm starving. Having to put up with students all day means that I really haven't had the time to eat."

"I can't believe you're going into teaching," Derek said after a moment. "I mean, I know you'll be good, but still..."

"I'm going to be a kickass math teacher," Lydia said. It made Derek laugh.

Once they were at the restaurant, Derek looked nervous. They were sat down almost immediately and Derek ordered a bottle of wine. Lydia watched him and knew something was up.

"Lydia," Derek said, watching her. "When we started this thing two years ago, I wasn't sure that you were ever going to realize how deeply I felt about you, about how much I loved you. But you are the world to me and I cannot imagine my life without you in it. You deserve the best in life, and I want to give you just that." He reached into his suit jacket pocket and produced a ring box. Lydia gasped a little in surprise as Derek got down on one knee. "Please do me the honor of marrying me. I love you, Lydia, and I always will. I want to make what we have permanent."

Lydia nodded her head vigorously, "Yes, Derek! Of course it's a yes. I love you, too." She stood as Derek stood and they embraced one another. Then Derek kissed her, long and hard and filthy, and they sat back down and ate their dinner and drank their wine.

As a werewolf, Derek couldn't get drunk, but he still didn't drink very much. Lydia didn't drink enough to get drunk, but she did get pleasantly buzzed. She wanted to remember whatever was happening this weekend.

Back at their hotel room (which, Derek had booked them the fucking presidential suite), Derek undressed Lydia slowly. He really took his time with her, kissing every inch of skin he uncovered. Once she was completely naked, Lydia helped Derek out of his clothes and he said to her, "Lay on the bed, Lyds. I wanna taste you."

Lydia nodded, "Okay." She lay down on her back in the middle of the bed and that's when Derek attacked her opening with his tongue. He fucked into her with his tongue, and then kissed around it like had done the very first time he had gone down on her. Switching from teasing her on her thighs and her lower stomach and then switching to her clit was making her even more wet than she had ever been before. He sucked her clit into his mouth and entered her with two of his fingers.

"Fuck yes, Derek," Lydia moaned out. "Fuck me with your fingers - _please_. I need it so fucking bad."

Derek groaned and fucked her with his fingers even harder than he was before. He fucked his fingers into her hard and sucked on her clit, biting it gently. Pretty soon, Lydia was thrusting against his mouth, and then she was coming.

He withdrew his fingers, licked her juices off of them, and then wiped his mouth off. "I love it when you blow me," Derek started, noticing how Lydia was about two seconds from getting on her knees, "but I need to feel you. I need to be inside of you, like, right now. Please say that's okay."

Lydia nodded, and when Derek asked for a condom, Lydia said, "I don't wanna use one. I know you're clean and I'm on the pill. Is that okay with you?"

"Fuck, you're gonna be the death of me," Derek groaned, grabbing his cock and entering her in one thrust. "Fuck, Lyds, you're so hot, so tight and wet. Fucking shit, I don't know how long can last."

"It's okay, Der," Lydia said. "I'm right here."

He fucked into her earnestly, hard and fast, and Lydia groaned at the sensation. He felt so good, and pretty soon, Lydia was babbling, "Shit, Der, so fucking good. You feel so good in me, you're so big, so thick, and I fucking love it." After a minute, she said, "Pull out, babe," and he did. She turned around so that she was on her hands and knees and said, "Come on, Der. Fuck me like you mean it." With that, Derek grabbed her hips so hard that Lydia was pretty sure that she was going to have bruises later on, and he fucked into her. It wasn't long before she was screaming her release into the room. Derek thrust into her a couple more times before releasing his seed inside of her.

As they lay together in the afterglow, Derek kissed Lydia's forehead, "I love you, Lydia, and I always will. I'm sorry I was such an idiot before."

Lydia laughed. "It's okay, Derek," she said. "We've got forever to make it up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I am aware of the corny ending. But I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and that's what they got. I'm absolutely floored by the response that this story has gotten, and thank you guys for reading it.
> 
> If anybody likes my writing and is interested, I'm working on a new Dydia project right now. The prologue should be up in a few days, so keep a look out for that.
> 
> And also, I'm still taking prompts at [my tumblr](http://gabby227.tumblr.com/).

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr [here](http://gabby227.tumblr.com/) and on LiveJournal [here](http://gabby227.livejournal.com/).


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